Memoires DE Mr. DES-ECOTAIS Cy devant appelle dans l'Eglise Romaine Le Tres Venerable PERE CASSIAN de PARIS Prestre et Predicateur de l'Ordre des Capucins OV Les MOTIFS de sa CONVERSION Divisés en Deux Parties I. Que la Doctrine de l'Eglise Romaine d'apresent n'est fondée ny sur l'Ecriture Sainte ny sur la creance de la Primitive Eglise ny sur l'Authorité des Saints Peres Cequi est plus particulierement et plus evidement verifié dans l'examen de la creance de Rome touchant l'Euchristie II. Que l'Eglise Romaine n'est point la veritable Eglise qu'elle n'a pointe de son costé exclusivement et au prejudice des autres Eglises Christiennes ny l' Antiquite de la foy ny la Multitude du Peuple ny la veritable et legitime Succession des Evéques Que son Authorite n'est point infaillible et qu'elle est toute pleine d'Erreurs et de Corruptions A LONDRES Imprimé chez G. Godbid et se vend chez Moyse Pit à l'Ange vis à vis la petite porte de St. Paul 1677. Memoires OF Mr. DES-ECOTAIS Formerly stiled in the Church of Rome The most Venerable FATHER CASSIANUS of PARIS Priest and Preacher of the Order of the Capucins OR THE MOTIVES of his CONVERSION Divided into Two Parts I. That the Doctrin of the now Roman Church is not grounded neither upon the Holy Scripture neither upon the belief of the Primitive Church or the Authority of the Holy Fathers which is more particularly and more evidently verified in the examination of the Belief of Rome concerning the Eucharist II. That the Church of Rome is not the true Church that it doth not enjoy as absolutely its own outshutting all other Churches neither the Antiquity of the Belief neither the multitude of the People neither the true and lawful Succession of the Bishops That the Authority thereof is not Infallible and that it is full of Errors and Corruptions LONDON Printed by W. Godbid and are to be Sold by Moses Pitt at the Angel over-against the little North Door of St. Paul 's Church 1677. DEDICATION A MONSEIGNEUR Illustrissime et Reverendissime HENRY Evéque de LONDRES Doyen de la Chapelle du Roy Et un des SEIGNEURS Du Conseil Privé de sa Majesté MONSEIGNEVR CE n'est pas d'aujourd'huy que ceux qui quittent le party de l'Erreur pour ambrasser la Verité se trouvent exposez à la persecution du monde et ce n'est pas d'aujourd'huy non plus qu'ils ont besoin de puissants protecteurs pour les deffendre contre l'injustice Vôtre Grandeur sçait que St. Paul n'eut pas plûtôt le tître et la qualité de Nouveau Converty qu'il se trouva abandonné et persecuté de toute la terre Il a beau alleguer aux Juifs les Motifs de sa Conversion disputer contre eux et les confondre les Juifs n'en sont pas pour cela moins enragez contre luy Ces méchants s'imaginent toûjours que les motifs qui ont obligé Paul à quitter la Religion de ses peres pour embrasser la pureté de l'Evangile ne sont autres que l'inconstance de son esprit ou le desir dela nouveauté et dans cette pensée ils le regardent comme un Deserteur et comme un Apostat ils luy dressent des embûches ils font des complots et des conspirations pour le mettre à mort et s'imaginent qu'ils ne peuvent rendre à Dieu un service plus Religieux que de s'obliger par un voeu solemnel à ne point boire ny manger jusqu'à ce qu'ils ayent trempé leurs mains dans le sang de Paul St. Paul est obligé de s'enfuïr il faut qu'il sorte de Damas par dessus les murailles pour éviter la fureur de ses ennemis et qu'il se retire à Jerusalem pour estre plus en seureté Et là St. Paul tout Vase d'election qu'il est il a le déplaisir de voir que les disciples même évitent sa compagnie le craignent et ne se fient pas à luy par ce qu'ils ont peur que sa conversion ne soit une conversion feinte imparfaite et dissimulée et il saut qu'il ait recours à un Apôtre qui luy serve de Protecteur qui le presente aux Disciples et qui leur fasse entendre les moyens admirables dont Dieu s'estoit servy pour operer sa conversion Voilà l'estat où se trouvoit reduit St. Paul aprés sa conversion et c'est aussi l'estat Monseigneur où se trouve reduit encore en ce siecle un homme nouvellement converty D'un costé ceux desquels il abandonne le party deviennent ses plus cruels et plus irreconciliables ennemis ils ne le menacent de rien moins que de le perdre et si leurs voeux et leurs dessins pernicieux n'estoient arrestez par la severité des Loys on verroit bientôt les consequences tragiques de leur Zele indiscret et passionné D'un autre côté un grand nombre de ceux avec lesquels il fait profession dela Pureté de l'Evangile ne se veulent point fier à luy ils le fuyent ils le craignent pour les mêmes raisons pour lesquelles les Disciples craignoient Paul ils ont peur qu'il ne soit pas veritablement converty ils craignent que sa conversion ne soit interressée et imparfaite ou du moins ils craignent qu'elle ne soit pas de durée et qu'aprés avoir demeuré quelque temps parmy eux il ne retourne à son erreur et ne deviene encore une fois le Persecuteur de l'Evangile et dela Verité Que deviendra dans cet estat un pauvre nouveau Converty Pour ceux dont il a quitté les erreurs et qui le persecutent sans misericorde et sans charité il n'a que des prieres à faire à l'Eternel pour leur Conversion dans le temps même qu'il est le plus cruellement persecuté et il leve incessament les mains vers le Ciel pour reconnoistre que les pechez qu'il a commis sont les seules causes qui attirent sur sa teste toutes ces persecutions Mais à l'égard de ceux avec lesquels il fait profession d'une même Foy il a besoin aussi bien que St. Paul d'un puissant Protecteur qui soit son avocat qui parle en sa faveur et qui fasse connoistre aux peuples que sa conversion n'est pas l'ouvrage de l'interrest de l'inconstance ou dela necessité mais que c'est un ouvrage de Dieu et un effet de ses misericordes
cy-devant est tombée dans la Corruption et dans l Erreur § 1. Corruption horrible dans ses Moeurs p. 80. § 2. Erreurs extremement grossieres dans sa Doctrine pag. 88. Conclusion Generale Que j'estois engagé de sortir de l'Eglise de Rome aprés que Dieu m'en eut fait connoître les Erreurs par les degrés que j'ay marqués dans les deux Parties de ce Discours pag. 88. § 1. L'Occasion d'un Sermon que je préchay sur le sujet du Sacrement me rappella dans l'Esprit toutes les idées que j'avois des Erreurs de Rome pag. 91. § 2. Les repugnances que je souffris et les difficultés qu'il me falut surmonter pag. 94. § 3. Les raisons que je meditay dans mon esprit pour differer ma Conversion pag. 96. § 4. Dieu par sa misericorde me fait vivement comprendre le grand peché que c'est que de s'opposer au saint Esprit et ainsi acheve ma Conversion en me faisant genereusement abandonner la Communion de Rome pag. 101. TABLE INTRODUCTION § 1. The Reasons wherefore I have been engaged to write these Memoires Pag. 1. § 2. That the Conversion of a man who did live in the Errors of the Roman Church is a very great Miracle pag. 5. § 3. After what manner and by what degrees the Spirit of God made me understand my Errors pag. 9. FIRST PART That the Doctrin of the Roman Church is not grounded neither upon the belief of the Primitive Church or the Authority of the Holy Fathers CHAP. I. How I understood that the Doctrin of the Roman Church is not grounded upon the Scripture § 1. The Reading of the Scripture disposes me to acknowledge the Errors of Rome pag. 11. § 2. The Errors of the Roman Church whereof I was perswaded made me find in the Scripture many Difficulties many Insufficiencies and many Contradictions pap 16. § 3. Circumstances which did contribute to hasten my Conversion pag. 22. § 4. Conclusion of this Chapter That the Articles of Faith of the Roman Church cannot be proved by Scripture pag. 26. CHAP. II. How I understood that the Articles of Faith of the Roman Church are not grounded upon the Belief of the Primitive Church nor upon the Authority of the Holy Fathers INTRODUCTION The reading of the Books concerning The Perpetuity of Faith in the Eucharist was an occasion to me to examin in particular the Belief of the Roman Church about that matter pag. 30. Division of the Errors of Rome concerning the Eucharist pag. 34. Section I. That the belief of Rome about the real Presence in the sense of Transubstantiation is a new Doctrin in the Church I. First Proof drawn out of the Arguments wherewith the Fathers of the Church had wont to Dispute against the Heathens pag. 36. II. Second Proof drawn out of the Reasons wherewith the same Fathers had wont to Dispute against the Hereticks pag. 41. III. Third Proof drawn out of the manner whereafter the Fathers had wont to speak of the Holy Saerament pag. 44. IV. Fourth Proof drawn out of the novelty of the Doctrin teaching Transubstantiation pag. 48 Section II. That that which is taught of the Sacrifice of the Mass in the Church of Rome is a Doctrin contrary to the belief of the Primitive Church I. In what sense it is true to say that the Holy Sacrament is a Sacrifice pag. 50. II. That the pretended Propitiatory Sacrifice of the Roman Church is contrary to the Scripture pag. 53. III. What has given occasion to that Error and the degrees of Corruption which brought forth that belief pag. 56. IV. That the horrid abuse which is slid in the Roman Church to offer their Sacrifices in the honour of Saints is a practice contrary to that of the Primitive Church pag. 59. Section III. That the manner of Administring the Sacrament in the Roman Church is quite different and very much opposed to that to which they were used in the first Ages of the Church I. That in the time of the Apostles and in the first ages of the Church they gave the Communion to all the People under both kinds they worshipped not the Host and celebrated not the Holy Mysteries in an unknown Tongue pag. 64. II. The beginning of all the Errors of the Roman Church in the Administration of the Sacrament pag. 70. 1. The beginning of the Abridgement of the Cup. pag. 71. 2. The beginning of the Worship of the Host pag. 74. 3. The beginning of the celebration of the Eucharist in an unknown Tongue pag. 78. Conclusion of the First Part. That the Articles of Faith of the Roman Church cannot be proved by the practice of the Primitive Church nor by the authority of the ancient Fathers pag. 80. Second Part. That the Church of Rome is not the true Church that it's Authority is not Infallible and that it is full of Corruptions and Errors INTRODUCTION The Divine Providence brought forth some occasions which made me resolve to examin the very first grounds of the Question concerning the Authority of the Roman Church pag. 1. 1. The occasion that I had to examin a-new all the Articles of Faith of the Roman Church all which I reduced to the Authority of the same Church pag. 3. 2. The occasion that I had to doubt of the Infallibility of the Pope made me resolve to examin again and without passion upon which is grounded that Authority which the Church of Rome boasts so much pag. 6. 3. Circumstances wherewith I began to examin the Authority of the Roman Church and what I do design in the Rehearsal of them pag. 12. CHAP. I. Of the pretended grounds of the Authority of the Roman Church pag. 16. Section I. That Antiquity Multitude and Succession are not priviledges which ever the Roman Church had enjoyed above all other Churches pag. 20. § 1. That the Roman Church is not the Eldest of all the Churches pag. 21 § 2. That the Multitude is not on the Roman Churches side pag. 25. § 3. That other Churches as well as the Roman have their Succession from Bishop to Bishop from the very Apostles pag. 29. Section II. That neither Antiquity neither Multitude neither Succession are not Infallible marks of the true Church and consequently that a Church may have them all and with them all be an Heretical Church pag. 32. § 1. That Antiquity is not an Infallible mark of the true Church pag. 33. § 2. That the Multitude is not an Infallible mark of the true Church pag. 39. § 3. That the Succession is not an Infallible mark of the true Church pag. 45. Conclusion That it is the Succession of the true Doctrin from the Apostles which is an Infallible mark of the true Church and that the Church of Rome which hath not the Succession of the Doctrin has no reason to boast neither of its Antiquity neither of the Multitude neither
them with the Zeal of their Salvation and to turn away their hearts out of Error as he did yours Ah! how many thanks are you to give to God Almighty that he has drawn you out of the Tyranny where you were born But we should be very glad to hear the particularities of your Conversion And it is to rehearse them that I undertook this Discourse to engage you to joyn your Thanksgivings to mine for to thank Him to praise Him and to glorifie Him admiring the Greatness of his Goodness and the Wonders he doth work in the Souls of those whom he has 〈…〉 § 2. The Conversion of a Man who did live in the errors of the Roman Church is a very great Miracle SAint Peter's Chains broken by themselves many Blind men recovering their Eyes many Sick bodies healed many Dead rais'd up again these are very great Miracles and marvellous Deeds of the Highest's Mighty Hand But the Divine alterations which Grace works in our Souls are a great deal more marvellous more worthy of God's Majesty better becoming his Almightiness The Man whom the Finger of God has touched to work the Miracle of his Conversion doth not know himself any more so considerable is that change he feels his Soul entirely perswaded of certain Truths which God has revealed which he regarded heretofore as so many lies and he finds himself delivered from a multitude of errors which he worshipped as the Truth it self Peradventure you would have supposed that the prejudications of Error which he found in his mind from his Child-hood might be like so many petty Tyrants and young Devils who perplex him who vex him who trouble the quietness of his Conscience and raise up in him dimness and darkness stealing from his Eyes the very light of Truth You are mistaken Grace gives him strength to dissipate the evil Spirits and to withstand Error He doth enjoy the light of the Gospel with a peace and quietness which cannot be expressed and as the dawning of the Day which comes first after Night is received by all Creatures with more pleasant and more delightful wellcome than the very Light of Noon so I dare say there happens sometimes the same thing in the state of Grace A Soul newly lightened enjoys sometimes the Light with more pleasure and sweetness than do those who have been all their life long in the broad day-light of the Gospel That a man should live in such a Tranquillity of Conscience as the Saints themselves enjoy in Heaven That he should find pleasure and sweetness in being perswaded of a Truth which he lookt upon before as an Heresie and did not think of without Horrour it is a prodigious work of the Highest it is Almighty Gods mighty hand A Christian who has prostituted himself to all his Passions who has dived into all kinds of Vices and Deboachments who has transgressed all the Commandements of God when Grace touches and Converts him it is a great Miracle yet that man who prostituted himself to all kinds of Vices did never conceive any horrour against those who follow Virtue He did consider Virtue as a very hard thing but not as an Abomination and in the very same time wherein he broke all the Commandements he thought not that it was a great sin to keep them He did not look upon those who observed them as so many Monsters as so many Franticks as a people who deserving the malediction of God and the execration of Men ought to be exterminated out of the World with Sword and Fire But a Man who did live in the errors of Rome before God had hightened him by his Grace he looked upon the Reformed Church as a Church full of Abomination he never spoke of those who follow that Church but with Imprecation and Cursing he never read any proposition of their Doctrin but presently he added an Anathema and damned them to the pit of Hell he had rather have the conversation of Devils than that of a Protestant In a word all the Invectives Raylings Imprecations Maledictions Anathematizations he could heap up were to be poured out upon those who do profess the purity of the Gospel When after all those Repugnancies and Estrangements which seemed to be an obstacle to Truth you see a Man mollified opening his Eyes to the Grace of God changing his Dispositions his Notions his Thoughts and all his Manners Is not that a prodigie of Grace Have I not reason to say that this Miracle is not only greater than that whereby God gives again Eyes to the Blind Life to the Dead but even a great deal more marvellous than that which Grace works in the Conversion of the greatest Sinners § 3. After what manner the Spirit of God made me understasnd my Errors THe Lord our God doth not always shew altogether at once the effects of his mighty Power nor doth he work always after the same manner in all the Conversions of Sinners He speaks sometimes with a thundering Voice which altogether at once beats down dazles and converts a Sinner And it was with such a Voice he spoke to (a) Act. 9. St. Paul when in a minute of time he turned him from the most furious Enemy of the Gospel into a very Zealous Preacher of the same Gospel Other times he begins to speak to a Sinner softly and a great way off He prepares him he prevents him and he puts him in the Dispositions he judges fit for his Conversion It is after this manner he converted the (b) Act. 8. Eunuch of great Authority under Candace Queen of the Aethiopians he doth not overturn him out of his Chariot he doth not cast him to the ground to Convert him suddenly as he did afterwards St. Paul but he dispoes him by the reading of the Scripture to receive the light of the Gospel And it is after this manner the Lord has been pleased to draw me out of the Errors of Rome and to bring me through his great Mercies to profess here freely the purity of his Holy Word This is that which I intend to rehearse in all this Discourse in the First Part whereof I will recite how I understood that the Doctrin of the now Roman Church is grounded neither upon the Authority of the Holy Scriptures nor upon the belief of the Primitive Church nor the Authority of the Holy Fathers And in the Second Part how I understood that the Church of Rome is not the True Church that its Authority is not Infallible and that it is full of Corruptions and Errors FIRST PART The Doctrin of the Roman Church is grounded neither upon the Scripture nor upon the belief of the Primitive Church nor the Authority of the Holy Fathers CHAP. I. How I understood the Doctrin of the Roman Church to be not grounded upon the Scripture §. I. The Reading of the Scripture disposed me before-hand to acknowledge the Errors of Rome BEing in the Ecclesiastical Orders of the Church of Rome I thought
we must know that the custom of the First Christians was thus Before they might participate of the Communion of the Body and Blood of Christ they came to present their Offerings Bread Wine Oyl Fruits and other things and those Offerings were called by the Fathers of the Church Sacrifices as it is evident by the reading of (a) Lib. 4. cap. 32.34 St. Ireny (b) Epist 34. Item Lib. de Oper. et Eleem. St. Cyprian (c) Lib. 5. cap. 17. Theodoret the second Council of (d) Can. 4. Mascon about the Year 587 as it is to be seen in (e) Lib. 1. cap. 7 8. Rebanus Maurus his Instructions of Church-men Let the Sub-Deacons says he receive the faithful Peoples Oblations in the Temple of God and give them to the Deacons to be put upon the Altar and this was the reason why they called the Table of Communion an ALTAR because of the Oblations they offered upon it Such was the belief the use and the simplicity of the Primitive Church But alas how much has error defaced this Holy Practice in the Roman Church How great alteration is happened from the belief of the first Christians 1. Instead of Bread the First Faithful offered upon the Lords Table they offer in the now Roman Church only some slender Hosts like to Wafers and it is that of which the Author of the Exposition of the Roman Order and Constitutions complains as (a) In his Comment upon the Capitular of Charlesmagne lits B. Monsieur Pithou relates In some Churches says he the Oblation of Bread which according to the Ancient Custom of the Church was offered by the Faithful People upon the Lords Table for the usage of the Sacrifice is at this time reduced to a very small and very light form to the form of a little piece of Money which has neither the Figure nor appearance of the true Bread And it is to authorize such error that in several Pictures of the Lords Supper Christ is to be seen with all his Apostles having every one upon his Plate a little Hoste of the bigness of one Farthing Is not that a mighty alteration in the Roman Church to offer to the Lord some little Hosts that have not any appearance of Bread instead of the true Bread which was offered in the Primitive Church And is it not a monstrous boldness worthy of punishment to make the World believe that Christ instituting the Holy Sacrament hath not taken ordinary Bread but some little Wafers alike to those they use in the Roman Church 2. Whereas in the Primitive Church the Oblations which were made were Sacrifices of Thanksgiving and Duty and that the Holy Sacrament was look'd upon but as a Sacrifice of Commemoration according to the belief the Church of England keeps still we have seen since altogether with the belief of Reality and Transubstantiation the belief of a Real and Propitatory Sacrifice in the Mass which has obliged the interessed to hold as they-did since in the Council of Trent That Christ was every day truly Sacrificed I do not know how many times for our Sins and that the Roman Priests were true Sacrificers and all that without any ground in the Scripture without any advowing or authority of the Primitive Church whose belief was very far from that of the Roman Church as it is proved in all this Section IV. The horrid abuse of the Roman Church to offer Sacrifice in the honour of Saints is a practice contrary to that of the Primitive Church FOr as much as Error is the Mother of Blindness as one deep calleth another Psal 42.9 and all the design of the Devil is to bring men to Impiety and to the Destruction of the Kingdom of Christ Whereas in the Primitive Church they directed their Oblations only to God Almighty they celebrated the Sacrifice of the Lords Supper only for the honour of his Divine Majesty the Church of Rome carried on Error to such excess as to hold that in the Sacrifice of the Mass which they do pretend Christ himself is Really Sacrificed that that Sacrifice of the Body and Blood of Christ Really and Substantially present is offered Durst I rehearse such a Blasphemy that it is offered in honour of Saints and one comes boldly to say to a Priest who prepares himself to say the Mass Sir you must say the Mass of St. Peter The Mass of St. Paul Of St. James or some other that is to say You must Immolate Jesus Christ to day to the honour of St. Peter to the honour of St. Paul of St. James of St. Barnabas or of some other and that you may not think that I do impose upon the Church of Rome you are but to read upon that matter which you please of the Books of the Roman Theologians or to hear what the Priest says every day in his Mass when he reads the Canon thereof and you shall hear him saying with a low voice these words after he has recited the names of several Saints Ut illis proficiat ad honorem That it may profit them to honour he doth pray God that this Sacrifice be profitable to their honour If in the Old testament any should have offered Sacrifices to God in the honour of Abraham Isaac and Jacob would not they have stoned him in that very instant to expiate by his death the Impiety of this Blasphemy Alas in the Law of Moses there were in the Sacrifices only some Beasts whose throat were cut When Christ began to shew unto his Disciples how that he was to go unto Jerusalem and suffer many things of the Elders and Chief-Priests and be killed to appease the wrath of his Father provoked against the Sins of Men St. Peter was presently filled with Zeal and could not abide that his Master should go unto Jerusalem to be Sacrificed there (a) Math. 16.22 Be it far from thee Lord said he this shall not be unto thee Oh! should St. Peter be upon the Earth and some body should come to tell him Peter this Priest who goes to say the Mass is going for your sake to worship you to Sacrifice Christ himself his own Body and Blood Would not he hear the news with a mighty horrour Would not he say with much more reason Be it far from thee Lord this shall not be unto thee thou shall not be Sacrificed for my sake for my honour We do read in the Acts of (a) Cap. 14. the Apostles that some people of Lycaonia having seen the Miracle that St. Paul had wrought were ready to offer a Sacrifice to him and that the Priests of Jupiter brought Oxen and Garlands unto the Gates and would have done Sacrifice with the People in honour of Barnabas and Paul which when these Apostles heard of they rent their Clothes and ran in among the People crying out and saying Sirs why do ye these things we also are men of like passions with you and preach unto you that ye
of Christ jesus There was before the Table of the Communion a great Curtain like to that Vail which was in the old time before the (a) Exod. 26.33 Ark of the Testimony and when the Curtain was drawn to set open to the sight of the People the Holy Mysteries the Faithful imagained they saw the Heavens opened as (b) Homil. 3. sup Epist ad Ephes St. Chrysostome speaks they consider'd the Table of Communion as an Altar imbrued all over with Christ's Blood they came to the Sacred Table with an holy horrour and a trembling like to that of Moses when he came nigh to the bush out of the midst whereof God spake with him they were all penetrated throughout with the light of their Faith and they breathed nothing but Fire of Charity which consumend them And in this manner they came near our Lord J. Christ to eat his own Body and to drink his own Blood they regarded the Minister who divided to them the Bread and the Wine of the Holy Sacrament as a Seraphin who was to put upon their tongues a coal of fire to quicken them with the Love of God and the Spirit of Christ But if somebody in that time should have worshipped the Sacr ament in stead of worshipping Christ who is received in the Sacrament he would have been lookt upon as an Idolater he would have been rejected out of the Church and dealt with as an Heretick or else they would have taught him that it is a dreadful Error to worship the Sacrament as if Bread and Wine were transubstantiated into Christ's Body and Blood and that the Faith of the True Church and of all the Saints is to believe That by the means of the Holy Sacr ament we are truly and really partakers of the true Body and of the true Blood of Christ who is in Heaven settled at the Right Hand of God his Father where we worship Him in receiving the Sacrament 3. The Beginning of the Celebration of the Eucharist in an unknown Tongue Now for the third Error which is to be found in the Roman Church in the Administration of the Sacrament we know that it is but fince the Popes have made themselves Soveraigns since they have raised themselves to be Arbitrators of Crowns since they took upon them to depose Kings from their Thrones and usurped that Temporal Power which they now injoy We know that it is but since that time that they have endeavoured as by Right of Conquest to oblige all Nations to speak the Roman Language as a Mark of their Bondage to the Pope following the Example of the old Roman Emperors who after they had reduced several Provinces and Nations under their Jurisdiction constrained them to speak the Roman language That Tyranny of constraining the People to celebrate the holiest of our Mysteries in a Tongue which they understand not is a thing so evidently contrary to that which the Holy Ghost teaches us in the * 1 Cor. 14.16 Scripture that almost all the Christian Churches which have received from the Apostles their Belief and the Form of Celebrating the Eucharist do celebrate it unto this day in the Vulgar Tongue of the Countries whereof they are Inhabitants The Greeks have their Lyturgy in their own Tongue as every one knows the Christians of Moscovia who received of the Apostle St. Andrew the Faith of Christianity have their Lyturgy in the (a) Guagn de Relig. Moscov pag. 250. Slavonian tongue which is the vulgar Tongue of the Country they inhabit The Armenians converted for the most part by S. Bartholomew speak their (b) Cassander Lyturg. cap. 13. pag. 31. own Tongue in the Celebration of the Holy Mysteries The Jacobites who dwell in Syria speak 9c) Brerewood pag. 194. Syriack in celebrating the Eucharist The Abissine Christians celebrate the Divine Service and the Communion in the (d) Chytraeus pag. 28. Tongue of their Country Which makes me believe that all Christian Nations conformed themselves to the practice of the primitive Church and that they have wel perceived the Holy Ghost frobid the celebration of these holy Mysteries which consist in Blessings and Thanksgivings in an unknown Tongue to which the Unlearned could not answer Amen CONCLUSION OF THE FIRST PART The Articles of the Roman Church cannot be proved either by the Practice of the Primitive Church or by the Authority of the Ancient Fathers ALl those Reflexions which I made for my own particular Instruction and Edification brought a great Light into my Soul and overthrew in part the false principles wherewith the Errors of the Roman Church are ordinarily intricated and darkened First I began to mistrust that Church and then afterwards to draw some Consequences against the Errors thereof I thought since it is a thing very natural to mistrust one in all his Conduct after we have once surprised him in a Dault that after having discovered the Errors of the Roman Church concerning the Question of the Eucharist I might reasonably mistrust it in all the other Articles of Faith of which it makes a particular profession and so I saw nothing sure nothing fast in the Church of Rome I believed I might justly mistrust that this Church had done in the Doctrine of Indulgences Purgatory Prayer for the Dead and Invocation of Saints the same that it has done in that of Transubstantiation Reality and Sacrifice of the Mass that is to say I feared they were Articles which had been framed against the Doctrine of the Ancient Church the Testimony of the Holy Fathers and the Authority of the Word of God Moreover I thought that having remarked the Errors of Rome in the chief and most holy of all the Mysteries of Christianity I was not obliged to examine the other Articles and that that only was enough to make me suppose that it had erred in all the other Points of its Doctrine and that one must consequently forsake its Communion if he doth desire to be saved The desire of my Salvation was a desire which Grace had rooted very profoundly in my Soul but the thought of forsaking the Communion of a Church within which I had been brought up was a thought very contrary to my natural Inclinations I could not blind my self from seeing the Errors of Rome but I had not yet strength enough generously to forsake them to the peril of whatsoever could happen The Reasons which made me understand my Errors came every day to present themselves to my mind with some new Lights and Evidences The Church of Rome hereupon I look'd before as if it had been encompassed round about with the Truths of the Scripture grounded upon the Authority of the Saints of the Primitive Church appeared to me at that time bared of all those fine Testimonies But at last the same Pretence which caused me to defer my conversion when the Grace of God had made me understand that the Romish Faith was not grounded upon the Word of God
came to present themselves distinctly to my mind with the most hidden most secret and most mysterious â—ricks they be cloathed withal and in â—vriting for the infallible Authority of â—he Pope I began to learn that the Pope was not infallible and by consequent that all the Articles of Faith of the Church of Rome which I grounded upon such an infallibility were grounded upon a lye 1. The occasion I had to examine anew all the Articles of Faith of the Roman Church which I reduced all to the Authority of the same Church I Had not yet the age that the Canons of the Church required to be ordained a Priest when I had made an end of my Course of Divinity and the General of the Order of which I was besides the ordinary permission of preaching which he uses to give to those who were judged to have the necessary aptitudes to teach and edifie the people sent me an extraordinary permission to preach the word of God though I was but a Deacon I was sent that year to dwell in the Monastery of the chief town of Champagne and the superior of that Monastery who was a person of an extraordinary capacity and consummated vertue appointed me to teach publickly the Catechism in one of the Churches of that town I did it and whereas the concurrence of the Articles of Faith which I discoursed of obliged me to discourse of matters of Controversie I had occasion to examine them to consider all the reasons both for and against to instruct my self leasurely of all the truths of the word of God and to discover all the errours of the Roman Church every one in particular Yet I did not publish in the Pulpit the light of truth wherewith God Almighty lightened my mind and I did preach the Articles of Faith of the Roman Church whereof I was but a litle perswaded I must needs here O my God give satisfaction for the wrong I did to truth Many people that followed the Wars who Wintered in that Town where I preached came to hear my Catechisms two of them which were of the Protestant Religion one an Officer and the other a common Souldier born on in the Province of Languedoc the other in that of Poicton came to tell me that the reasons I brought forth for the defence of the Faith of Rome had perswaded them that they were ready to forsake and forswear their heresies and that they prayed me to instruct them farther in the Principles of the Roman Religion I did it I instructed them a while and I made them to forswear according to the forms of Rome unto the Superior of that Monastery Ah! could those men hear my voice I would cry unto them with all my heart Come again Brethren come again into the lap of the Church from which I pluck'd you out the reasons I alledged to you I acknowledge now they were but Sophismes the Authors I cited I made them speak against their own minds expounding them after some ill constructions in fine the places of the Scripture which I caused you to take notice of read them again and again without preoccupation and you shall find that they teach nothing less than what is taught in the Church of Rome That antiquity which I attributed to that Church began only after the purity of the Gospel had been corrupted by the Bishops of Rome that Church which I said was the image of the Primitive I said was the image of the Primitive Church is truly the Church of the latter-times whereof St. Paul * 1 Tim. 4. speaks a Church which forbids to mary a Church which holds that it is a sin to eat certain meats in certain times and by consequent a most corrupt Church wherewith the Primitive Church hath no commerce or conformity in short I should tell them freely that I did not believe my self at that time that the Articles of the Faith of Rome were grounded either upon the Authority of the Scripture or the Authority of the Fathers of the Primitive Church and that all that I was detained withall in the Communion of Rome was the belief which I was perswaded of that the Pope was infallible which belief I have discovered since to be false and a great errour 2. The occasion I had to doubt of the infallibility of the Pope made me resolve the examine again and without passion upon what the Authority which the Church of Rome boasts so much of is grounded AFter I had continued to teach the Catechism in that Town my Superiours destinated me to dwell in the Monastery of Sens in Burgundy I arrived there in the time whereat the Lord Archbishop of Sens had resolved to make an end of the difference he had had a great while with all the Monks of his Diocess concerning the right he stood upon to make his visitation in their Churches he had already begun to deal compulsively with some of the Monasteries which are in his Diocess and the Provincial of our Order fearing that my Lord Archbishop would deal after the same manner with the Monastery of Sens and that the Monks should withstand him to the scandal of all the people gave order to the Superior of that Monastery to go to my Lord Archbishop and to inform him of the reasons which the Monks insisted upon to withstand the Bishops and not suffer them to hold any visitation in their Monasteries the Superior desired me to come with him he went to my Lord Archbishop discourst to him his reasons according to the order he had received of the Provincial and my Lord of Sens who was a learned man a sublime spirit skil'd in all Canonical matters gave his answers to all that the Superior had proposed to him I heard that great Archbishop with all the respect and veneration I was to do and I stayed holding my peace till his Grace was pleased to begin to me and desire me to speak if I had any thing to answer to what he had said I told his Grace as compendiously as I could what I had remarked in his answers which I was not contented with and I answered to his reasons as succintly as it was possible Some days after the Provincial wrote to me and desired me to send him the result of the Conference with my Lord Archbishop and to write him withall what I my self in particular thought of the Contention we had with the Bishops concerning the matters of Jurisdiction I examined the question in its principles I reduced the Conference we had with my Lord Archbishop to some Capital Arguments whereupon I wrote fully and at length all my remarks in form of Reflexions which I sent to the Provincial as he desired me to do whereupon he wrote to me the most obliging letter in the world Those Reflexions I had made give me a great desire to examine the greatness of the Power which is attributed to the Pope in the Church of Rome and gave me the occasion to weigh
and must confess that they did wrong when they excommunicated it and that the Church of England is infallible and has the true Faith since in it they do conserve from Bishop to Bishop from the times of the Apostles a right Succession in all the Ecclesiastical powers But it is not upon Succession only that churches are to ground the Doctrines they profess the Reformed Churches are very willing to be examined after the very rule of the Gospel and do not defend a false principle by antiquity as those of the Roman Church do CONCLVSION That it is the Succession of the true Doctrine from the Apostles which is an Infallible mark of the true Church and that the Church of Rome which hath the Succession of Doctrine hath no reason to boast neither of its Antiquity nor of its Multitude nor Succession IT is true that the Fathers used the Argument of the Succession against the Hereticks Tertullian (a) De praescrip cap. 32. urged it against those of his time Optatus (b) Lib. 2 3. against the Donatists Augustin against the Manichees the Arians and the Pelagians but lest you should be mistaken do but read exactly those Fathers and you shall find that with the Succession of Churches and Bishops they required a Succession of Doctrine which Tertullian calls a Consanguinity and an affinity of Doctrine to prove they were the true Church which St. Augustin said it was impossible to prove throughly but by the Scripture Let them produce said Tertullian (c) De praescr cap. 32. the beginning of their Churches let them shew us the order and the succession of their Bishops from the beginning and at last bring forth some of the Apostles or some instructed by the Apostles who were Authors of their Churches c. But though they should have dispatched that step though they should have devised some Catalogue of Succession yet they should not have got very much by that for their Doctrines compared with that of the Apostles will make it appear by they diversity and the contrariety there is betwixt them that neither the Apostles nor those who have been instructed by them were the Authors of their Churches even saith he they shall be condemned by those Churches which though they have not for their Author neither one of the Apostles nor one instructed by them immediately as being erected after the time of the Apostles begun in our days are nevertheless Apostolical because of the Consanguinity of the Doctrine they teach which is the same with that which was taught by the Apostles And St. Gregory of Nazianze (d) In laud. Athan. shews that the succession is to be esteemed by Piety sooner than by Seat 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that he who professes the true faith is partaker of the same Seat he who doth the contrary though he doth sit in the same seat is an enemy directly opposed to that Chair which he sits on 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that the Succession of the Faith 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 ought to be esteemed the true Succession for it hath the truth of it whereas the other hath but the appearance thereof Thus you see that even by the testimonies of the Fathers To be a true Church it is not enough to have the Succession of the same Chair and the Succession of the Bishops which the Roman Church boast of upon all occasions since one may shew a long Catalogue of Succession and be an Heretick for all that as you see by Tertullian his Testimony since one may sit upon the same Chair which was Catholick heretofore and for all that be the sworn enemy of that Chair as it is manifest by the testimony of St. Gregory of Nazianze but a Church ought to have the Succession of the Faith the Succession of the Piety and shew as Tertullian speaks a Consanguinity of Doctrine Consanguinitatem Doctrinae and this the Church of Rome doth not boast of at all since it cannot abide that we should speak of examining its doctrine by the word of God and of comparing it with the Faith of the Primitive Church with the belief of the Apostles Let not therefore the Church of Rome boast that it hath possessed almost all the finest Churches in the world the Arians have possessed them as well as they and St. Hierome for all that calls them Hereticks The Church saith that Father (a) In Psal 133. consisteth not in walls and buildings but in the truth of the Doctrine the Church is where the true Faith is 't is not above 15 or 20 years past since the Hereticks possessed all these buildings even all these glorious Churches but in that time the Church was there where the true Faith was Ecclesia autem ibi vera erat ubi fides erat Could not we have said the same in this Kingdom 'T is not above 120 or 160 years past before the time of Henry the 8th and Queen Elizabeth when the Papists possessed all these buildings even all these Churches but in that time the true Church was there where the true faith was Ecclesia autem ibi vera erat ubi fides erat Do not let them say that the Pope hath succeeded St. Peter for we will answer that Nero was Successor of Augustus and notwithstanding Nero was a Tyrant Augustus was a good Prince we will answer that the King Manasses succeeded Ezechias and yet for all that Manasses was a wicked King Ezechias was a Saint In fine we will say that the Arian Bishops had succeeded the Catholicks that the impious Nestorius was the right Successor of St. Andrew in the Chair of Constantinople that the famous Heretick Paul of Samosate was the right Successor of St. Peter in the Church of Antioch and that all those as well as the Popes have succeeded others who had ruled before them but as the night succedes the day sickness good health death life CHAPTER II. The true Grounds of the now Roman Church Chap. 2. AS soon as I had overthrown those three false imaginations of Antiquity Multitude and Succession wherewith they used to cloak the Errors of the Church of Rome it was very easie to know the true grounds and foundations whereupon it is built and those grounds being neither the Authority of the Scripture nor the Doctrine of the Primitive Church nor Antiquity nor the Concurrence of the Multitude nor the Succession of Churches or Bishops I knew aftere a diligent examination that they could not be other than the Ambition and Covetousness of those who govern it and it is from thence that all the corruptions and all the errors of that Church have proceeded SECTION I. The Ambition of the Popes §. 1. The Pope exalts himself above all Kings whereas by right he ought to be submitted to them POpe Gregory the 7th in a Synod held at Rome in the year 1076. established 27 Propositions upon which is grounded all the greatness of Rome which are called the Dictatorship of the
put his hand upon (a) Mar. 8.24 he did see truly but yet he was not able to distinguish Men from Tree the Word of God had restored my Eyes but they were but weak and subject to a great many dimnesses it was need to have some time to strengthen me in the Truth which I had but a glimpse of and to take away the Ignorance of Divinity under the pretences of which the Devil would cloak the Word of God Therefore the Divine Providence that took care for my Conduct disposed all things to hasten my Conversion it brought to pass several incidents which the Profane would call chance but the Saints stile The hand of the Lord. First I was destinated for the study of Divinity four years before all my Companions let the Flatterers and Profane say what they please those who judge holily of things that come to pass understand very well that the design of the Lord in that was no other but to take away as soon as it could be the fair Pretences wherewith Error would have offuscated Truth Secondly the Lord permitted I should come to an able man learned in Divinity both Scholastical and Positive perfect in Right Canon which is the Decrees of Fathers Councils and Popes in a word a man who was marvellous in Study of Controversies and in every thing which can contribute to make an absolute Divine But He permitted also that there might be in so excellent a man the fair Dealing and the Sincerity of a Child that was the reason that some Years after when he had known the Truth of God and the Errors of Rome because he knew not how to disguise Truth he published it every where he could not forbear to say that Indulgences Purgatory and the Obligations of Believing the Articles of Faith of the Pope and of keeping his Commandements upon â—ain of a mortal Sin were so many â—rafty Tricks of Rome to get Money He could not forbear to tell every Body the Mysteries the Factions the Impostures of the most part of those last Councils which are accounted General and Oecumenical by the Church of Rome he defended generously all the Truths which we profess in the Church of England wherefore he drew upon himself all the Persecutions he suffered for Truth so that afterward he died a Martyr for the Gospel by the severity of the Laws of Rome Oh! had he been in the time that I conversed with him as much lightned as he has been since he had saved me many troubles and perplexities he had doubtless delivered me out of that Suspension of Spirit whereunto I was reduced by the subtilty of his Answers and the height of his Resolutions But in that time the Lod did but begin his Conversion as well as mine and lighten us both by degrees yet with these two differences First the Lord destinated him to suffer all kinds of Persecutions to make him a Witness of his Holy Word a Martyr of the Gospel and he has not yet judged me worthy of Persecutions nor of Martyrdom Secondly he would have him raised up to the number of those great Saints whom the World afflicts and torments Ch. 1. §. 4. (a) Heb. 11.38 Of whom the World is not worthy Therefore the Lord ravished betimes that innocent Soul in the liveliness of his Years and speedily was he taken away (b) Wisd 4.11 as saith Solomon Lest Wickedness should alter his Understanding or deceit beguile his Soul Whereas the Divine Justice has looked upon me as a grievous Offendor who am suffered to live that I might Mourn and Weep longer for my Sons §. 4. The Conclusions of this Chapter How I came to know that the Articles of faith of Rome cannot be proved by Scripture IT was under the Conduct of that learned and holy Man that I began to give my self to the Study of Divinity I read what Authors do write concerning those Questions but specially and more exactly concerning the Questions which are controverted which are for the most part the Doctrines the Church of Rome hath received out of pride and covetousness without any ground in the Scripture I found in those Questions several difficulties I came to propound them to my Master there is said he what Bellarmin Answers there is for this matter the Exposition of Cardinal du Perron there is what Bonaventure what Thomas Aquinas what Scotus what Suarez what Valentia what Boivin what Herincx what others say touching that difficulty But when I asked him Tell me I beseech you freely what do you think He Answered me almost to every one of those Questions To tell you the truth said he the Doctrin of Purgatory of Indulgences of Worshiping Images and Reliques the Doctrin of Transubstantiation c. I do not find all these Doctrins very evident in the Scripture I do not see neither how they can be drawn very directly out of those places of the Bible th Authors of Rome are wont to produce to prove them by I give them you said he only to alledge to those who would have a place of the Bible he brought forth in every matter to have some pretence to say seasonably or unseasonably the Scripture speaks of that Matter and to content the Hereticks But to speak plainly I do sincerely confess it is not the Scripture which obliges or perswades me to believe all those Articles but the true and the only reason why I do hold them is because the Church teaches them so There are said I in self at once a great many difficulties abridged it is a great deal more just and more reasonable to deal after this manner than to consume all our brain to find in the Scripture with great pains of false discoursing what the Holy Ghost had never intention to teach therein Let us acknowledge then freely that all the Articles of the Faith of Rome are not in the Scripture nor grounded upon any thing else but upon the Authority of the Church After that all these difficulties may be very easily resolved All the business will be but to know whether or no I am obliged to believe as an Article of Faith what the Roman Church teaches without any ground from the Scripture This was the pass to which I was reduced to this I thought all the Theologie of Rome was to be reduced I did but loose my labour in consulting other Professors of Divinity in Conferring with those Friends of mine who were some Bachelors some Licentiates some Doctos of Sorbon and Curates of some chief Parishes in Paris They spoke but Gibbrish or some Latin words contrary to the good common Secne and Reason when they would have grounded the Doctrin of the Church of Rome upon the Scriptures and they never spake with reason but when at last they reduced themselves as to a Principle to the infallible definitive and final Judgement of the said Church in such matters CHAP. II. Chap. 2. How I understood the Articles of Faith of the
Christian Congregations do not agree together to know which of them has the true Faith and the true Religion instituted by Christ that was the point of my difficulty In that part of Europe wherein I find my self by the chance of my birth see two Congregation two Christian Churches the Roman and the Reformed which both boast to have that true Faith excluding the other now how to resolve that difference and to know which of them has truth of it's side The Roman Church brags it self to be the eldest it reckoneth a multitude of people and nations who conform themselves to it's Communion and shews a long Catalogue of Popes who have been settle one after another in the Seat of Rome but if it be asked to set open to the light its Articles of Faith and to examine whether or no they be agreeable to the word of God to that true Faith which has been taught us by Jesus Christ our Lord it cryes out frets and is disturb'd it cannot abide to come to that examination and would be believed upon its own word On the contrary the Reformed Church brags of nothing she could say that it is she truly that is the eldest since the doctrine she teaches if conformable to that which Christ himself taught us she could shew in all ages and in all parts of the world whole nations which are conformable to the same doctrine which she has learnt from Christ she could show long Catalogues of Bishops and Patriarchs who have succeded one another in the Chairs which the Apostles themselves have established which are with her in Communion and upon all those accounts she could demand as well as the Roman Church to be believed upon her own word without coming to the examination of her doctrine but forasmuch as she knows that this manner of dealing is unjust and that she is sure she teaches nothing but what is agreeable to the word of God she desires nothing so much as to be examined by the rule of the Scripture and gives leave to all the world to compare the doctrine she teaches with that which they taught in the Primitive Church with that which the Apostles with that which Christ himself taught when he was upon the earth Now which of these two Churches acts more sincerely and which of them have we most reason to suspect of error and falsehood If fomebody should come to a payment with you and you could not know surely whether his mony were good or false coyn would not you use weights and a touch-stone to examine the mony And if the man should be angry and alledge to you that the mony which he pays you seems very acnient that there is in the world a great deal more such as that and that he has received it successively from his great great Grandfather Would you not say to his Sir there is great quantity of ancient mony which is false for all that if this mony be not good all the mony in the world which is alike to it is not good neither and if these pieces be false you may give them your Children succes sively to the end of the world but they would not grow better for all that but if notwithstanding the man would be believed upon his word and could by no means abide you should bring his mony to the trial would not you take occasion from thence to think not without cause that such a man intended to cheat you SECTION I. Antiquity Multitude and Succession are not Priviledges of the Roman Church above all other Churches Such is the manner of dealing in the Church of Rome which is a great argument that the doctrine she teaches is not agreeable to the word of God since it cannot abide by any means that it should be examined by that rule she brags that she has on her side Antiquity the greatest number and succession and in repeating often those fine principles which dazle the world in saying them over and over and boldly in causing them to be published every where by her controversial and Theological Writers she has made the World almost believe that she is the eldest of all the Christian Churches and that among all the Christian Congregations there are but few which are not submitted to the Church of Rome and in fine that the Pope is the only true Successor of St. Peter these are the three false principles upon which the Roman Church grounds it self but which have no other foundation than the boldness wherewith those of that Church have used to publish them § 1. The Roman Church is not the Eldest of all the Churches WE learn of the ancient Ecclesiastical Authors Origine Eusebius Hierome Isidore and others that the Apostles after they had received the Holy Ghost which an order to go to publish the Gospel in all the world were scattered abroad as so many flouds full of the Holy Ghost to preach the word of God in all the Nations St. Peter preached in Judea Galatia cappadocia pontus Bithynia and Rome St. James the son of Zebedee in Judea and Spain St. John in Judea and Asia the less St. Andrew in Scythia Europea in Eprius Thracia and Achaia St. James the brother of our Lord in Jerusalem St. Philip in Scythia and Phrygia St. Bartholomew in the Indies and Armenia the great St. Matthew in Ethyopia St. Thomas preached to the Parthians Medes Persians Brachmans Hyrcanians Bactrians and Indians St. Simon in Mesopotamia and Persia St. Judas in Egypt and Persia St. Matthias in the higher Ethyopia St. Paul and Barnabas in many Countries of Europe and Asia Now I would very fain know upon what ground the Church of Rome would be accounted the eldest of all those Churches which have been erected by the Apostles of Christ if one of them have the right to be accounted and called the eldest of the Sisters it seems in all reason that it must be the Church of Jerusalem for it was in Jerusalem that Christ himself preach't the greatest part of his Sermons there he exercised his Offices of Priest and Bishop 't was in that City he was sacrificed for our sins 't was there the Apostles first declared the word of God as it is to be seen in (a) Chap. 24. v. 47. St. Luke it was of that Church St. James was created the first Bishop in the world it is the Church of Jerusalem which is called by Theodoret (b) Hist Ecclesiast lib. 5. cap. 9. Mother of all Churches 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 c. it is the Church of Jerusalem which is to be acknowledged as the first of all Churches according to the Testimony of all the Fathers who were present at the Council of Constantinople as Baronius himself testifies in the year of our Lord 382. If the right of Antiquity is to be given only to a Church instituted by St. Peter the Church of Antioch in Syria is to have in that the priviledge above the Church of Rome for
Augmentation of the Sacraments of that Church the Ignorance of the Holy Scripture and the Invocation of Saints which in the Roman Church is gone as far as Idolatry are all grounded and lest some body should believe that I charge falsely the Church of Rome when I accuse it of Idolatry or lest some body should believe what the Papists use to say that it is but the common people that ground their hope upon the merits of the Saints and that the learned men who are lightned do not fall in so gross errors do but read the Psalter of the blessed Virgin Mary in the works of St. Bonaventure and you shall see that this Cardinal attributes to the blessed Virgin Mary all that which is attributed to God Almighty in Davids Psalmes and every where where the name of God should be he puts in the room the name of the Blessed Virgin pray can any thing be more impious and more wicked Neither can you say that that error is an error of a private man for I answer that it is a publick error in that Church and the error of the Church it self since in the book of the Mass upon St Nicolas's day (b) Decemb. 6. the Priest who says the Mass hath an order from the Church whereby he is engaged under the pain of a Mortal sin to pray God that by the merits and prayers of St. Nicolas they may be delivered from the fire of Hell Vt ejus precibus meritis à gehennae incendiis liberemur a Church which makes that prayer doth it not believe that it is by the prayers and merits of St. Nicolas that we are delivered from Hell and to believe that is it not to believe an horrible Impiety In the same book of Mass on the day (a) The 6th of July of St. Peter and St. Paul all the Roman Church prays to God that by the merits of these two Saints all men may obtain Eternal Glovy Vt amborum meritis aeternitatis gloriam consequamur then it is the errour of all the Roman Church and not of a private man to believe that it is by the merits of Saints we are to obtain eternal life And on the day (b) The 14 July of St. Bonaventure the Church of Rome prays God he would be pleased to absolve all men from their sins by the merits of that Saint ejus intercedentibus meritis ab omnibus nos absolve peccatis Now a Church which believes that it is by the merits of Saints that we are delivered from Hell that it is by the merits of Saints that we obtain eternal life that it is by the merits of Saints that our sins are forgiven is that a Christian Church could the Mahometans and Idolaters hold or think any thing more destructive of the merits and more opposite to the Glory of Jesus Christ could they invent an error more contrary to the truth of Christianity GENERAL CONCLUSION That I was engaged to go out of the Church of Rome whereof God Almighty made me know the errors by the degrees I have rehearsed in the two parts of this discourse AFter I had made that examination of the principles whereupon is grounded the Authority of the Roman Church after I had discovered the falsehood and the nullity of the reasons which she alledges to oblige the world to commit it self into her hands after I had found that Antiquity Multitude and Succession are not priviledges which the Church of Rome possesses above all other Churches after I had known that if the Church of Rome should enjoy all those priviledges above other Churches yet it would not be a good consequence from thence that it be the true Church and a Church freed from errors after I had discovered that all the infallibility of the Roman Church was grounded only upon the Authority of the Popes and that the greatness and Authority of the Popes was grounded but upon Ambition and Covetousness I understood that there was no other foundation of the true Religion but the word of God I acknowledged the truth of those Axiomes of St. Chrysostome (a) Homil. de Lazaro That the Ignorance of the Scripture procreates Heresies and that (b) Homilia 38. sup Joann the Scriptures bring us to God Almighty drive away Heresies and keep us from falling into error that thought imprinted it self upon my mind very strongly and made an end of scattering away the Clouds which Truth seemed to be wrapped in I knew manifestly that all points which are called Articles of Faith in the Roman Church but are not grounded upon the Scripture are indeed Articles of the Interest and of the Ambition of those who rule it and not Articles of Faith which are to be no other than Articles of the Word of God I understood well that that which was taught in that Church was the word of man not the word of God and that having no foundation in the Scripture they could not be sufficient Articles to oblige all men to believe them moreover in examining particularly and without preoccupation the Articles of Rome I knew them to be contrary to the Scripture so whereas at that time I acknowledged nothing but the word of God for the true rule of my Faith I concluded that all those Articles of Rome were so many errors and that having a natural obligation to forsake error assoon as we know it I was obliged to go out of the Roman Church to forsake altogether and faithfully all the errors which it stands for §. 1. The occasion of a Sermon about the Sacrament called again in my mind all the notions I had of the Errours of Rome THus I discussed the Articles of the Belief of Rome when the time of my obedience being finished I left the Monastery where I was near Saumur to come again to Paris there the F. Provincial who had disposed of his Secretary to send him to govern one of the Monasteries of our province spoke of making me his Secretary but the Divine Providence ordered it another way for the F. Provincial seeing that the F. General had taken upon himself all the care of our Province for the while he was to stay at Paris thought that it should be needless to take a Secretary that was the reason why he commanded me to go to preach at the Parish of Meudon which is a Borough six miles out of Paris That Place where God Almighty had begun some years before to lighten me with the light of his Truth seemed to me the place of all the world the most pleasing and the most well liked I preached every Sunday and every Holy-day which is kept by the Church of Rome till at last about the time that they Celebrate the days which are called Corpus-Christi-days being engaged to preach as I us'd to do I read again what I had written afore upon the matter of the Sacrament and I was troubled in reading what I had written What! said I must I abuse