from Judaism but bred up in the Schools of the Greeks having suck'd the Spirit of Fables and Lies wherewith those two Nations are justly reproached forged the Oracles which he attributes to the Sybils he caused to enter there as Oracles of those ancient Prophetesses all that which he believed proper to support the Christian Religion and render it plausible to the Pagans The better to persuade the Greeks he there mingled their Fables and to please the Philosophers he entered their Dreams there making himself all things to all Men that he might gain some Among other Philosophick Dreams he inserts two in his Work The first was drawn from the Platonick Philosophy 'T was that there was a certain separate place into which he pretended the Souls of the Faithful were carried after death and where they were lodged till the Day of Judgment without enjoying the happy vision of God. The other was this that at the end of the World there would be a great Fire through which all Men must pass that should be saved An imagination which seems to have some likeness to the Stoick Philosophy which teaches that the World would be burnt after which it would return into the State wherein it was at the beginning and in a continual vicissitude pass through the same Revolutions and Changes Or rather 't is taken from what the Holy Scripture says that the World at last must be burnt by Fire We are not able to say how these two Opinions the one concerâ—â—ng the separate state of Souls and the other concerning the Torrent of Fire through which they ought to pass did readily diffuse themselves among those which had any Learning and read any thing besides the Sacred Volumes The Ancients good Men and credulous being ravished to find Books under the name of Pagan Prophesies which foretold the coming of Jesus Christ his Names his Passion the Circumstances of his Birth of his Life Death and Resurrection much more clearly than the true Prophets embraced with greediness what they found in these false Prophesies Justin Martyr who wrote well nigh in the same time that these false Oracles were forged falls into the persuasion that Souls after death are in a separate place where even in some sort they are subject to the Power and Persecution of the Devil From thence it comes to pass that he said it was the Devil that caused the true Samuel to ascend by the Charms of the Witch of Endor ‖ Dial. cum Tryph. For which reason says he when a person is near death you ought to pray that his Soul don't fall under such a power S. Ireneus Bishop of Lyons the most considerable Writer of this second Age was of the same opinion concerning this separate place where all Souls must be inclosed until the Day of Judgment without seeing the Face of God. * Advers Haeres lib. 5. He calls this place Paradise whither Enoch and Elias were transported but he also calls it Hades Hell and a place invisible Note that this Opinion is universally at this day rejected by the Papists and passes among them for an Error Pope John XXII having been accused to be of this Persuasion there was a terrible noise about it and he was forced to retract it Now this Opinion is the original of Purgatory For as we shall see afterward this place changes by little and little its-nature until at length they made of it a place of Torments and Punishments for the purging of Souls This separate state produced a little while after Prayer for the Dead which we shall see had its original about the beginning of the third Age. But whereof nevertheless we see nothing in the second unless it be towards its end On the contrary Justin Martyr tells us that we must pray for dying Souls to the end that in the place of their Separation they fall not under the Power of Devils He would not have failed to have added that we must pray for Souls after death to the end that we might draw them from under the power of Devils if Prayers for the dead had then been in use On the Subject of this praying for the Dead whereof they make such great boasts in Antiquity tell them these three things 1. That it was not in use in the first and second Age. 2. That the Reason why they began to pray for the Dead is very different from that which causes Prayers for them at this day At this day 't is to draw them from Purgatory then it was to the end that in the terrestrial Paradise or other place of Separation where they were God would increase their rest and joy for it was believed that they were there in the beginning of Happiness 3. To conclude tell them that these Prayers for the Dead are no important business in Religion and that they are not the Reason of our Separation After that press them to shew you in the second Age the least footsteps of this place of Torments whither penitent Souls must go after Death to pay the remainder of those punishments which they could not satisfie during their life Demand proofs from them that in this Age the Church prayed for Souls that they might quickly get out of torment and you will see them forced to confess that there are none I come to the Worship and Adoration of Creatures such as are Relicks Images the Blessed Virgin Saints and Angels They treat this as a small business we shall have occasion to prove to you one day that without running into any extravagance 't is a Pagan Idolatry But for the present we will content our selves to shew you that we do not find the least footsteps of these worships in the second Age wherein we now are If they did invoke Saints the Blessed Virgin and Angels if they had Images if they did kiss and adore Relicks let them shew it you let them cause you to read one Author that speaks of it Bellarmine hath the impudence to produce the words of Justin Martyr to prove the Worship of Angels We adore and venerate the Father and the Son which is come to us from him who hath taught us both us and others which follow him and the Army of good Angels by the Spirit of Prophecy c. Apol. 2. He refers the word we adored to that of Angels as if the design of Justin Martyr had been to say that they adored Angels Whereas he ought to refer Angels to the word teach his Sense being that Jesus Christ hath taught the Angels as well as us the Mystery of the Gospel according to what S. Paul says To the intent that now unto the principalities and powers in heavenly places might be known by the Church the manifold wisdom of God Eph. 3.10 It is so clear that this is the Sense of S. Justin that at this day none of your new Doctors dare quote these words to prove that they worshiped Angels in the second Age. This passage being
who make a very great noise in Italy They reproach the Pastors excessively and under an appearance of Zeal there is nothing which they do not say to make odious and contemptible both the publick Ministry and those that exercise it in the one and other Religion This may be seen in the Writings of their Foundrâ—ss Anthoniette de Bourignon They perform no private Exercises of Devotion in their houses at least which are visible for Mr. P. himself hath made known to the Publick that Madam Meiselle de Bourignon had no Prayers in her Family unless it were at Table and yet he observes that that also was done with a low Voice not that they do not permit the use of Prayers to such as will as they permit them to go to Sermons or to Mass indifferently but those which are perfect among them do not concern themselves about it And one of the Principles of Mr. P. is That Desires Prayers Elevations of Heart towards God and Meditation are perfectly contrary to the Spirit of perfect Christianity and hinder the descent of the holy Spirit and the coming of his Grace According to him the only estate proper to draw down the holy Spirit is that which he calls a state of Inaction by which in a privation of Prayers Desires and Motions a man lets himself fall into nothing And this annihilation of all the Faculties is that acceptable Sacrifice to God which causes a descent of the Holy Spirit They have perpetually those Words in their mouth Let all Creatures keep silence and let God speak by which they signifie not only that we ought to impose silence on our Passions that we may hear God which is very true but also that we ought to shut the doors to all external Objects and to lay all our internal Faculties asleep to procure a kind of Extasie which whilst it continues God speaks to the Heart immediately and by himself Behold one of the Dreams of this Sect whereof you will see some footsteps scattered here and there throughout the whole Letter for this is the meaning of those Humiliations Annihilations and internal acts of Adherence to God which you are there exhorted to make Behold another Dream of these diseased Minds which is read also in this Writing in the fourth Page thereof and the second Column Moreover says he it must be remembred that 't is said in the Gospel That all things are possible to him that believes That Faith can remove Mountains and that Jesus Christ always said to Men Be it unto you according to your Faith. So that if those which officiate and assist at the Celebration of the Eucharist do believe that Jesus Christ is present there this Faith is ratified by God and it engages him beyond his Word and his Promises to make himself present as it is believed and this is a Conception so clear that I do not doubt but you will comprehend the force thereof Must not he have a besotted mind to call this a clear Conception I will explain it to you One of the Opinions of this mysterious Cabala is that originally God created Man master of all things in the literal signification of the Words so that he was able to stop the Sun in his course to remove the Globe of the Earth to remove Mountains c. and the Instrument by which he doth this or could do it is his Faith for all things are possible to him that believes without any Figure or Exceptions The state of Perfection to which Christ calls us is that of Faith which makes all things possible to us so that at this day to overturn the order of the World you have no more to do but to believe that you can do it and it shall be done for 't is precisely in the literal sense that they would have us understand the words of Christ If you had Faith but as a grain of Mustard-seed you should say to this Mountain be thou removed and cast into the Sea and it would be done And that it was not a Priviledge of the Apostles but for all Believers Behold that admirable Conception which he tells you is so clear that it is impossible you should not understand the force thereof If you don't understand its strength at least you will understand the convenience of it for when it shall please you to believe that Christ is corporeally present in your Andiron and in the Mantle-tree of your Chimney it will be so and by that means without going out of your Chimney-corner you will go to Mass and every one of you by his Faith will consecrate and transubstantiate all the Utensils of his House In the same Writing you will find another Dream which to me seems yet more ridiculous 'T is in the sixth Page and the second Column on the Subject of Purgatory Then when it happens that a Soul departs this Life in the love of God having nevertheless some impurities and evil habits in it self the Blood of Jesus Christ or the purifying Grace of Jesus Christ which comes after death into this Soul to purifie it or to finish its purification from all sin finding there as yet more or less of the remainders of Evil and of evil Habits and Inclinations fights with them that he may expell them this Combat of the purifying Grace of Jesus Christ against the evil which is in a Soul very sensible which he would cleanse from all the remainders of Sin is not done nor can be without great and sensible sorrows Is not this very singular That when a Soul is separated from his Body the blood of Jesus Christ should thrust it self in there like Sand to scour to cleanse this Soul which is an occasion of quick and pungent Sorrows Surely Mr P. could not have done better to excite the curiosity of the Publick than to give us this little spark of his Mysteries This also will be worth something to his Printer for I am assured that the Curious of France would at any rate whatsoever see a compleat Systeme of this admirable Theology However it be it is not without a particular Providence that it happens that in a Writing otherwise apt enough to flatter the minds of our Nicodemites the Author hath sufficiently discovered himself and made known what he is After this my Brethren judge what credit you ought to give a man who gives you an Idea of Piety according to which the Israelites might worship the Golden Calf without fault because they believed it to be God according to which a Man may be a Turk and adore even Cabages provided he makes use of them as a means of uniting him to God and to excite his Love. These Gentlemen desire of us to leave them in peace let them leave us so then and let them not intermeddle to give Advice to our Congregations being not called thereto With all my heart I am willing to leave them at rest for I take no pleasure to trouble any body
year on the day of the Death of a Martyr Oblations for the dead saith Teruillian Behold from whence comes Masses for the dead and the shadow of resemblance with what is done in the Church of Rome is capable of dazling ye But observe these great Differences The first is that the Sacrifices that were offered for the dead so they call them were not accounted true Sacrifices much less propitiatory Sacrifices 2. That they did not beg of God deliverance from the pains of Purgatory For Purgatory was not known at that time The third is that they did not commemorate Saints and Martyrs as they do at this day to have part in their Merits or to offer their Merits to God. First of all it is indisputable that the Church of the third Age did not think that Prayers for the dead joyned to the Sacrament of the Eucharist were a true Sacrifice I will not repeat the proofs those that please may see them in the preceding Letters For since we have proved that they did not at all account the Eucharist in general a true Sacrifice altho they gave it that name t is clear that they could not account as a true Sacrifice the Prayers which were joyned to the Eucharist for the repose of the dead So that the Ancients did not call that part of their Worship which they called Oblations for the dead Sacrifice for any other reason than because the Offerings which were consecrated upon the holy Table were there placed on the behalf of the dead either by their order or according to their will and intention And because these Prayers for the dead were joyned to the Sacrament which is a Sacrifice of Praise and the Commemoration of the propitiatory Sacrifice of the Cross Secondly we say that the end for which they make mention of the dead in the Celebration of the Eucharist was not for deliverance from Purgatory whereof no Discourse had been yet heard To be assured thereof there needs no more than to hear the Ancients concerning it 1. At the beginning they were only simple Commemorations of the dead to give thanks that they died in the Lord and in the fear of God. 'T was wholly to this end that they made mention of the Martyrs S. Cyprian speaking of two Men of War who had suffered death says that they were true and spiritual Soldiers of Jesus Christ and that in overthrowing the Devil by the Confession of the name of Jesus Christ They had by a generous suffering been worthy to receive the Palms and Crowns of the Lord. Now you may remember says he that we offer Sacrifices for them Observe the S. Cyprian says expresly that these two Martyrs were crowned in Heaven Nevertheless he says that they offered Sacrifice for them therefore it was not to fetch them from Purgatory How could it be that S. Cyprian and the Ancients should offer a Sacrifice to fetch the Martyrs from Purgatory when they believed they were in a state of Blessedness 'T was to do an injury to Martyrs to pray for them say they according to that saying so much known among the Ancients Injuriam facit Martyri qui orat pro Martyre For 't was to doubt of his happiness The same S. Cyprian says in another place Observe well the days on which they died speaking of the Martyrs to the end that we may remember them when we celebrate the Memories of the Martyrs Altho Terullian our most faithful and devout Brother hath written to us and doth write to inform us of the days in which our blessed Brethren which were in Prison passed to a glorious immortality to the end that we may here celebrate Oblations and Sacrifices for their Memory expecting that with the help of God we shall celebrate them with you That which he calls in the beginning Remembring the Martyrs he calls afterwards Oblations and Sacrifices for the memory of them But if to the Commemorations that is to say to the Praises which they gave to God for the glorious death of the departed they added some Prayers to God it was with respect to the Opinions then prevailing touching the state of Souls after death And these Opinions were such as had their Birth in the end of the second Age and was almost generally established and received in the third 1. That Souls did not enter into the Heavenly Paradise till after the Resurrection 2. That they remained in a separate place and state till that day 3. That they might go thence sooner or later by a quicker or slower Resurrection for they thought that the Resurrection was not accomplished in a day but continued the space of a thousand years at many and divers times 4. That at the day of Judgment the Souls pass through that fire which shall consume the World. 5. That in conclusion they present themselves in the day of Judgment either to be Absolved or Condemned There is not a learned and upright Man which doth not acknowledge this was the Divinity of the third Age yea and of those that follow So that with respect to these Opinions then prevailing they begged of God for the Dead 1. That he would fix them in the place of Repose which they call locus refrigerii or the Bosom of Abraham 2. That he would increase their happiness in that place and moderate the desire they have to go from thence 3. That they may go early thence and partake in the first Resurrection 4. That they may pass through the fire at the last-day without receiving and damage 5. And to conclude that they may be Absolved when they present themselves before the Throne of God all this was not expressed in the Prayers of the Church On the contrary they were conceived in general terms it was the intention of those which made Prayers for the Dead But to what purpose is it to dispute farther whether they offered Masses for the repose of Souls in Purgatory at that time since we have ancient Liturgies where we may see what they begged of God for the Dead There are two Liturgies of which one bears the name of St. James the other of St. Mark. We shall do them a great honor if we put them among the Writings of the third Age. The Liturgy attributed to St. James says Lord God of the Spirits of all flesh remember the Orhtodox of which we have made mention and whereof we have made none from Abel the Righteous unto this day cause them to rest in the Land of the Living in the Bosom of Abraham Isaac and Jacob in thy Kingdom in the delights of Paradise And that of St. Mark Cause the Souls of our Fathers and of our Brethren which are dead in the Faith of Christ Jesus to rest c. Cause them to rest in the Tabernacles of thy Saints and give them the Kingdom of Heaven That Composition which is called the Constitutions of the Apostles is a Work of the fourth and it may be of the fifth Age. Nevertheless we
do not see there in the Prayers for the Dead any Prayer for the deliverance of Souls out of Purgatory According to the Liturgies of that time they requested two things for the Dead 1. Pardon all his sins voluntary and involuntary give him Angels for his guard For the believed that in these separate places they were assisted by Angels 2. Place them in the Bosom of the Patriarchs and Apostles and of all those that have been acceptable to thee from the beginning of the World where there is neither sorrow nor sighing It is the separate place where according to them Souls rest to the day of Judgment To conclude will you have any thing more than all this Behold it in the Book of the Ecclesiastical Hierarchy of the false Dionysius the Areopagite It is to do him great honor to quote him among the Authors of the third Age since he is much more modern But at least in teaching us what was done in the following Ages he will learn us what was not done in the Ages preceding He says 1. That when a Man was dead hi Relations and Friends sung Praises to God that had given him the Victory and caused him to arrive at the end he desired 2. Afterwards they carried him to the Bishop as if it were to receive the Sacred Crown 3. The Bishop caused him to be carried if he were a Laick to the entrance of the Quire of the Church and there they performed the Office of Prayers which began with Praises afterwards they read the Promises of the Resurection and sung Psalms before they passed farther they caused the Catechumens to go out after which they mentioned all the Saints heretofore dead in whose Praises they thought the deceased might have some part They exhorted all those which were present to breath after a happy end in Christ Jesus and in conclusion the Bishop made Prayers for the Dead he saluted the deceased person and after him all the living But what did these Prayers for the Dead contain It is says he that all the sins which they have committed through human frailty might be forgiven them and that God would conduct them into the Land of the Living into the Bosom of Abraham Isaac and Jacob to the place where there is neither grief sorrow nor sighing In all this there is nothing of Purgatory To conclude For the third and last difference of the Sacrifice of the Mass at this day where they make mention of the Dead and the services which the Christians of the third and fourth Age did for them it must be known that at this time they distinguished the Dead whereof they make two sorts there are those which they put in the Liturgy to Pray for them for their rest and deliverance from Purgatory and others whereof they make mention to present their merits to God and to be aided by their Intercession For in the Mass they make mention of the Holy Virgin of the Apostles Martyrs Confessors c. to be aided by their Prayers and to partake in their Merits that is to say they Prayed to them instead of Praying for them but this was a thing unheard of in those Ages It was a thing so impossible that they should Invoke God by the Merit of the Apostles and Martyrs that they Prayed to God even for them just in the same manner as for the least Believers This may be seen in the Liturgies that we have quoted where we have seen they Prayed for all Saints from Abel to this present day and the Liturgy of St. Mark makes express mention of Apostles Martyrs Confessors as of persons for which it says Cause them to rest in the Bosom of Abraham This by the way makes it appear that these good Men make little reflection upon what they say for they request on the behalf of the Apostles and Martyrs that God would set them in a place of rest nevertheless it is one of the Articles of their Faith that they are there already and that they had been there from the moment of their death But as Bellarmin hath well observed their Prayers for the Dead were conceived in the same terms as if they had been made at the instant of time when their Souls left their Bodies an instant which is the precise time of Praying for the forgiveness of their sins and the rest of their Souls If after this the new Converts through their prejudice and blindness will find the Sacrifice of the Mass in the third Age we know not how to help it let them only know that this heap of Prayers for the Dead and Oblations for the Deceased which were added to the Celebration of the Eucharist in the third Age was the unhappy Seed which the Spirit of Lies and Superstition did Sow in the Church that he might cause from thence to spring the false Sacrifice of the Mass Propitiatory both for the Living and the Dead so that they ought not to be astonished if there be some shadow of likeness between these Oblations for the Dead and the Sacrifice of the Mass since the one is the Seed and the other the Fruit the one the beginning and the other the end This Article might suffice not only for the Sacrifice of the Mass and for Prayers for the Dead but also for Purgatory for what we have said proves that Prayer for the Dead was by no means established upon the Opinion that Souls were in fire after death from whence they might be drawn by Masses And you may my Brethren boldly defie your Seducers to shew you in that Age any passage in the Ancients that say so Suffer not your selves to be abused by the Word Refrigerium which signifies refreshment as if they had desired for Souls some abatement of the heat of the flames for this Word signifies no other thing in the Authors of those times than pleasure and locus refrigerii a place of pleasure Beware also of the Knavery of your Translators who in those places where they find offerre pro dormitione that is to offer for those asleep they Translate it to offer for their repose as if the Souls for which they Prayed had been in some Pain and Travel For to offer for those asleep is simply to offer for the Dead Sleep according to the Style o Scripture signifies nothing but Death and to offer for the Dead or for those asleep was to offer by making mention of the deceased Behold that which was added to the Sacrament of the Eucharist in the third Age which began to give it some appearance of the Mass but they yet wanted three great things the Elevation the Adoration and the refusal of the Cup. We do not find the least trace of these three things take it for granted and put your Converters upon the necessity of proving the contrary and you will reduce them to what is impossible As for us if we would bring you Proofs that they did Communicate under both Kinds that they did not
and Theodoret and you will find that they all generally express this that they went to the Shrines and Memories of the Martyrs so they called the places where they had put the Reliques that there they performed their Devotions that they recommended themselves to the intercession of the Martyr that they expected from him miraculous deliverances But not one will tell you that they invocated the Saints in their Closets or in Churches where their Reliques were not Now who does not see that this is an extravagance If the Invocation of Saints be good why is it not as good in a Closet as in a Church Why not in a Church where there are no Bones nor Ashes of a Martyr as well as in one where they are But this practice was founded upon a vulgar opinion that the Souls of Saints were not found but near their Tombs and that they loved their Ashes as St. Jerome tells us And behold the reason why 1. They did not invocate Angels whilst they did invocate Martyrs 't was because the worship of Saints began with that of Reliques and Angels having left no Reliques here below their invocation did not make the same progress 2. 'T is for the same reason that they invocated only Martyrs and not other Saints 't was because they had recollected with care only the bones and ashes of the Martyrs and for others they suffered them to rest in their Graves because their flesh had not been honoured by the Cross of Christ 3. 'T is the reason also why they did not invocate all Martyrs but only those of whom they had Reliques 4. To conclude 'T is for the same reason that they began so lately to invocate the Virgin. They had no Reliques of her they knew not where her Tomb was and this was it that gave occasion to the Fable of the Assumption of her Body into Heaven Her other Reliques her Shifts her Slippers her Girdles her Vails her Hair her Milk all these were not invented and produced till a long time after This is a point upon which you will do well to press your Converters Desire of them that they will shew you in the fourth or fifth Age those Reliques of the Virgin which are at this day the object of the Piety of the Devote's Those believers were very negligent in not searching after the Milk of the Virgin whereof at this day the World is full And 't is wonderful that among the Reliques which gave occasion to invocate the Martyrs in the fourth and fifth Ages they did not reckon those old Clothes and Rags which have since been put among the precious moveables of the Devote's There was nothing but Ashes and Bones which did then pass for true Reliques and such as were worthy of veneration Gather together I intreat you my Brethren all these things and make reflection upon them About the end of the fourth Age men began to invocate Saints But 1. They did not invocate all Saints no not the Apostles themselves 2. They prayed only to the Martyrs nor did they invocate all the Martyrs themselves and those which they did invocate they did not invocate in all places but only where their Reliques were 3. They did not invocate Angels who are much more worthy of honour and invocation than the Saints 4. They did not invocate the Virgin who is above all Saints and Angels Is it not plain that this was an unformed Worship a Worship in its birth a Worship which as yet had no Principles to establish it upon and which had for all its foundation a popular superstition for the ashes of those who had suffered Martyrdom Last of all to convince you that indeed this Superstition was as yet a Religion in its birth without Form and without Principles give attention to this which follows 't is that this Devotion was without form in its Doctrine as well as in its Worship All Religious Worship is founded in some Doctrine The Worship of Saints is established upon the opinion that they know our Needs hear our Prayers and see the Face of God with whom they can intercede Now in the fourth and fifth Ages all men were in doubt concerning these things They knew not whether the Saints did hear the Prayers of Men yea or no. Gregory Nazianzen in his Funeral Oration for his Sister Gorgonia speaks to her but knew not whether she heard him If thou hast any regard says he to her to the Honours that we give thee if holy Souls receive from God the gift of knowing things kindly accept our Discourse St. Ambrose in the Book concerning the Death of his Brother Satyrus says that God had withdrawn him from the World to the end that he might not see the miseries of the age and speaking to him says Considering the compassion which your holy Soul had for those which belonged unto you if now you know that Italy is oppressed by an enemy so near unto it how will you sigh how much grief will you feel by reason of it It seems to me that this supposes that the dead know not what is done below St. Jerome who speaks often of the dead speaks always of them as not knowing what the living suffer He says concerning Nepotian that he saw not what was done here and that we could not speak unto him He says to Demetrius to comfort her concerning the death of her Father that he is happy in that he did not see the desolation of his Countrey We see that 't is Nature that speaks and St. Jerome in these passages deserves much more to be believed than when he tells us that the Souls of Saints move about their Tombs 'T is a thing very observable that St. Austin was very unquiet and uncertain in this matter whereby we discover also the uncertainty of the Divines of his age This is seen chiefly in the Book which he writ concerning Care for the Dead Paulinus Bishop of Nola had consulted him about the Devotion of a Woman who wisht that her Son had been buried near the Tomb of St. Felix the Martyr formerly Bishop of Nola. This gave him occasion to handle the Question how the Dead knew our Necessities He durst not deny that the Martyrs did help and assist us because of so many Miracles that were done says he near their Remains But he doubted very much whether they heard us and knew our wants Afterwards he proceeds beyond doubt and lays down and proves plainly and strongly that they do not hear us * Cap. 13. De cura pro mort Afterwards he says that Souls may know not all but part of that which is done here below either by the report of Angels or by that of the Dead or by some immediate Revelation †Cap. 14. But at last it may be seen apparently that he enclines to believe that Souls have no knowledge of our Prayers and that they are Angels which do Miracles in the name of Saints yea that altho' the Souls of
he left behind him a matter which infected the Air When Birds were roasted and set upon the Table with signs of the Cross they made them fly away Another nourished a Child in a Desart by making him suck the clapper of a little Bell another hung his clothes upon the shaddow of a Tree or on a ray of the Sun as upon a Peg another made whole again a Basket of Eggs that had been broken another made a golden Cup of a pound of Butter another by sucking a leprous person drew from his Navel three great lunchions of fat matter whereof he made so many Ingots of Gold To conclude there are no Impeâ—tinencies nor ridiculous things which Popery doth not make its Saints to do and behold the History which they put in the place of the Evangelical Story As to what concerns Doctrine they speak but little of the August Misteries of Religion to the People such as are those of the Divine Attributes the Persons of the Trinity the Incarnation and Redemption of Christ Jesus These Misteries were laid by and neglected or if they spake any thing of them 't was after a Scholastical manner and method 't was by mingling with it a barbarous Philosophy of entities and quiddities with obscure and unintelligible distinctions 't was by raising foolish questions on the subject of the most venerable Mysteries For example Whether God could make matter without form whether he could command sin whether this proposition God is a Beetle or a Gourd could be as true as this God is a Man whether the number of three Persons in God ought to be referred to the first or second intentions whether the second Person in the Trinity could take the nature of a Devil or of an Ass as he took the nature of Man The Books which contain these fine questions are not yet destroyed At least they entertain people with the false Doctrines of Popery Instead of speaking to them of the efficacy of the venerable Sacrifice of Jesus Christ upon the Cross they speak nothing to them but of the greatness and utilities of the Holy Sacrifice of the Altar called the Mass It was good for every thing for the sound and for the sick to cure all diseases for Travellers for those who undertook great things to find Silver Horses Asses and Hogs that were lost 'T was good for the Dead as well as for the Living 't was excellent to fetch Souls from Purgatory or to abate their Sufferings for which reason they could not tell how to say too many for that purpose 100. 200. 300. 1000. 2000. 3000. 4000. and all with design to draw by this practice Maintenance for a million of Sluggards who have nothing to live upon but these Masses Instead of exalting the divine Vertue of the Bloud of Jesus Christ they spoke nothing but of Purgatory of a certain Fire which was to burn Souls after Death but of what sort of Men of those who had not made pious Foundations who had not left great Revenues to Convents and who had not left great Alms to the Monks to say Masses And upon this account they had always some Soul in pickle which came from Purgatory bringing News from thence who desired Masses and Suffrages and who complained lamentably that his Friends had forsaken him Amongst the means of appeasing the wrath of God true repentance which consists in contrition and amendment of life was passed over very lightly But they insisted mightily upon Satisfactions Mortifications Whippings hair Cloaths and Pilgrimages they advanced the value of these things they spake of them with prodigious Excesses and ascribed Salvation wholly to them And because all the World were desirous to be saved but few were capable of these hard penances they found out ways more easie and commodious If you give money to a Monk he will whip himself for you and you shall go to Heaven for him If you give great Alms to a Convent of the Frior Minors or the Preachers or the Augustines or the Carmelites if you take the Cord-girdle or the Rosary of the Fraternity and bestow great bounty and liberality on them and get the Letters of Adoption of St. Francis or St. Dominick by these means you partake in the merit i. e. in all the scourgings and macerations of the Monks of that Order scattered all the World over For greater security they have established a lovely good and inexhaustible Treasure of Indulgencies made up of all the superabundant scourgings of the good Monks mingled with the infinite merit of the passion of Jesus Christ And from this Treasure the Bishops and the Popes as Soveraign Dispensers fetch Indulgencies and Remission for all Sins for 40000 years for a 100000 years for 500000 years and all this by paying well for it So that if a man had committed so many enormous Crimes that they could not be expiated under less than 500000 years pennance he becomes discharged of them in a moment by his Money And there was no distinction of Sins Incests Adulteries Paricides Sodomies Brutalities all fell under the grace of Indulgencies Instead of abasing man before God by speaking nothing to him but of Grace and the forgiveness of sins instead of saying to him perpetually you are saved by Grace through Faith which is the Gift of God instead of making him understand that his good Works could merit nothing before God because they were very imperfect instead say I of doing all this they endeavoured to fill man with himself they spake nothing to him but of the merits of his Works and of the profitableness of humane satisfactions They made him believe that above all in matter of satisfactions he could do more than he was obliged unto that he had merit remaining and that he did works of supererogation and there are found even in this age devout persons so foolish and proud as to say to their Friends that they will give them their Merits They never speak any thing to them but of their power of their free will of their good works of their merits of the crowns which are prepared for them above others And above all these works to which they affix these Crowns are not prayers devotions severe Morals or holy lives Charity and alms to the poor But they are sack-cloaths and hare-cloaths 't is to shut themselves up in Covents and there make vow of Virginity 't is to abstain from certain Meats 't is to live in Retirement without seeing or speaking to any one 't is to wear a Frock without a Shift With this Furniture of good Works these men look on Heaven as an Inheritance by full Right and according to all the Laws and Rigour of Justice And for other men these pretended righteous persons full of pharisaical pride lookt on them with a great contempt by saying Come not near me for I am Holy. Instead of instructing men in the true way of possessing and uniting ourselves to Christ Jesus they have invented a carnal and corporeal
of the Church did not change in the Point of the Real Presence and Transubstantiation This Article being long we shall divide it into two And we shall see at this time that the Fathers did believe as we do that the Sacrament of the Eucharist was nothing but an efficacious Figure of the Body and Blood of the Lord. As they persevered in the custom of calling the Sacrament of the Eucharist a Sacrifice and Oblation they continued also in a custom much more ancient since it descended from Jesus Christ and his Apostles that is to call the Bread and Wine of the Eucharist the Body the Flesh the true Flesh and the Blood of our Lord Jesus Christ. They said then that we eat the Flesh of our Lord Jesus that we really receive him that Jesus Christ hath given his Flesh to eat and his Blood to drink that it is truly his Flesh and truly his Blood that we may not doubt that Jesus Christ doth not give what he promised viz. his Flesh and his Blood nor that the Bread is not the Body of Christ that Jesus Christ who changed Water into Wine could easily change the Bread into his Body and the Wine into his Blood that we must communicate with a full certainty as in the Body of Jesus Christ that Jesus Christ who is the invisible Priest changes the visible Creatures into the substance of his Body and of his Blood. After all that which they quote unto you of most strength concerning the Article of the Eucharist for Transubstantiation and the Real Presence in the fourth and fifth Ages amounts to this But I pray you what doth all this signifie Is there any thing therein of more strength than that which Jesus Christ and his Apostles have said The Lord said My Flesh is Meat indeed and my Blood is Drink indeed this or this Bread is my Body St. Paul said The Bread which you break is our Communion in the Body of Jesus Christ That which is under debate is to know how they understood this and if we prove that Jesus Christ and his Apostles did understand that the Bread continueth Bread being nevertheless changed into the Body of Jesus Christ if we prove that they meant the Bread is the Body of Jesus Christ because it is the Sign the Sacrament and the Means by which the efficacy of his Death is applied unto our Souls it is certain that we have ruined all the advantages that can be drawn from these high Expressions In like manner if we can prove that the Fathers of the fourth and fifth Ages did understand that the Bread and Wine became the Body and Blood of Jesus Christ and are changed into his Flesh and Blood because they are the Sacraments the Signs the Figures the Images and the Means by which God doth communicate the vertue of his Flesh and the efficacy of his Death without any change happening in the substance thereof if say I the Fathers of these Ages declare this plainly it is obvious that they cannot draw any advantage from all these Expressions how high soever they appear now I take it for granted that they could not declare themselves more plainly thereon than they have done as we shall hear hereafter And to the end that their Declarations may appear to us more express and significant it is necessary that you be acquainted with one thing of which your Converters are at an agreement with us and by consequence I need not prove unto you and 't is this in these Ages it was the custom to hide the Mysteries not only from Unbelievers but also from the Catechumens which had not as yet communicated This conduct had two Reasons or Foundations the first was the design to increase the respect which they desired Christians should retain for these Mysteries the second was an earnest passion to diminish the contempt which the Pagans had for a Mystery wherein nothing was seen but Bread and Wine These two Considerations obliged them never to speak of the Sacrament but in obscure and dark words They desired never to name the Bread and Wine as much as they could they served themselves of Periphrases saying sometimes that which you well understand sometimes that which the Priest takes sometimes the nourishment made of many Grains and the drink drawn from many Grapes or something of like sort This was in my opinion the meanest subtilty in the World. For in despight to all their Precautions every body knew that they took nothing but Bread and Wine in the Eucharist and they themselves said it oftentimes contrary to the design which they had of saying nothing concerning it But at last the design of hiding the matter of the Sacrament engaged them to speak nothing of it but in dark terms and always to serve themselves of the mystical terms of the Body the Flesh and the Blood of Jesus Christ and always to use these expressions and always to avoid those that were plain and without figure as much as they were able So that when it happens that they call the Signs by their name and to speak to things as they are indeed one only passage is more worth than a hundred where they speak figuratively and mystically For this mystical Language was among them a Language of necessity and duty which they had imposed upon themselves whereas when they spake of things plainly and nakedly 't was the Language of truth 't was the Language of the Heart and Soul which rescu'd it self from politick slavery and bondage It will not be therefore amazing if we find few passages in Antiquity where the truth of the opinion of the Fathers was plainly expressed Nevertheless we find so many of them and so plain that 't is not conceivable how prejudice hinders our adversaries from seeing the truth in this case First of all altho' we had no other passages of the Fathers but those where they call the Sacrament the Figure the Sign the Image the Symbols of the Body and Blood of the Lord these were enough Now of these there is almost an infinite number what other things do we say thereof than that the Sacrament is the Figure the Sign and the Symbol of the Body of Jesus Christ why did they say the same thing with us if they had not the same thoughts and conceptions with us St. Austin said (a) Cont. Ademas cap. 12. Our Lord made no scruple to say this is my Body The Author of the Book of Sacrament under the Name of St. Ambrose saith (b) Lib. 4. cap. 5. That the Oblation of the Eucharist is the Figure of the Body and Blood of our Lord Jesus Christ St. Ephraim saith (c) Lib. De Nat. Dei non frut That our Lord taking Bread in his hands brake it and blessed it that it might be the Figure of his immaculate Body and that he blessed the Chalice and gave it to his Disciples to signifie his Blood. St. Cyril of Jerusalem from whom they bring you
being made by men Behold an admirable Divine which believes that a man can make a God and do a Miracle if I may so say that exhausts all the Divine Power To conclude to these three or four words of St. Austin That none eats the flesh of Jesus Christ before he hath adored it we ought to oppose what he says in the third Book concerning the Christian Doctrine †De Doctr. Christ lib. 3. cap. 9. That every one knows the Sacrament of Baptism and the celebration of the Body and Bloud of our Lord that 't is well known whereunto they have respect and that they are reverenced not by a servitude i.e. after a carnal manner but by a spiritual liberty Here St. Austin desires that we give to Baptism the same honour as to the Sacrament of the Eucharist We must confess if St. Austin did adore the Sacrament we ought to make no scruple therein we owe him this complaisance for that he hath spoken as absolutely concerning it as our selves For during the space of two hundred years past there hath not been either Zuinglian or Calvinist which hath spoken more boldly or more clearly against the Real Presence and Transubstantiation If this suffice not to know what kind of Worship was given to the Eucharist we must learn it from the History of matters of fact We learn from Mr. de Valois in his Notes upon Eusebius ‖ Euseb lib. 7. cap. 9. Hist Eccles That the Believers which were to communicate approached the Altar and there received the Body of Jesus Christ from the hand of the Priest standing upright and not on their knees as at this day The Author has passed for a good Roman Catholick he is learned and he is a Modern Writer so that he wants nothing to give him an authority in the hearts of the New Converts who refer themselves much more concerning Religion to what their new Authors speak of it then to what is said thereof by those that are more ancient And indeed how could they communicate otherwise than standing since they prayed standing on the Lords day and the fifty days which are from Easter to Whitsontide in memory of the Resurrection When they were ready to consecrate they put out the Catechumens i.e. well nigh half the Christians is it probable that they would deprive them of the comfort of adoring their Saviour if it had been then the custom of adoring him in the Sacrament In those Ages they did communicate Infants and how could they exact Adoration before the Manducation since Infants are not capable of performing an Act of Adoration I may also reckon amongst those Articles concerning which there was no change in the fourth and fifth Ages that of Purgatory For the opinion of a separate place where Souls were to be kept till the day of Judgment without seeing the face of God but without suffering any thing there was the Opinion of the greatest men of those Ages of St. Ambrose St. Chrysostom St. Hillary St. Jerome and under names so great it may not be doubted but it was the prevailing Opinion 'T was the third place of the Christians that then were but as yet there were but few footsteps of a fourth place seen 'T is true that in these Ages a man may shew you some passages of Gregory Nyssen and even some of St. Jerome which speak of a Purgation of Sins which ought to be made after death by the means of a Penal Fire But this is not the Purgatory of Popery 't is that of Origen according to whom we have seen that all intelligent Creatures without excepting Devils and wicked men who die impenitently ought to be recovered and re-established Originism did not die with Origen and many famous Fathers of the fourth Age were infatuated with it Those which know the History of the Quarrels between St. Chrysostom and Epiphanius are not ignorant thereof I think indeed that few men did then dare to maintain the Opinion of Origen crude as he left it touching the future salvation of the Devils and the damned But many endeavoured to soften and smooth it and said at least Christians who died in the profession of the Faith but without Holiness and Repentance would one day be recovered 'T is without doubt that this Opinion mitigated and softned was one step which made the Church fall into the Error of Purgatory For after they had restrained those that were to be purged by a Penal Fire to such as died without Holiness and Repentance by little and little they restrained them to such who dying without Repentance had not satisfied the Canonical Penances of the Church St. Austin was not of the opinion of those who believed that ill Christians dying without repentance were to be purged by fire nevertheless he thought it probable * Enchir. cap. 67 that those who had too much affection for temporal good things during the space of this Life after death would be afflicted with grief for the loss of them and that this would serve them for a Castigation Nevertheless he proposes this but as a doubtful conjecture It is not incredible says he †Enchir. cap. 69. but that something of like nature happens after death and it may be disputed whether it be so that some Believers shall be saved sooner or later by a purging fire according as they have more or less loved these perishing good things By this Purgative Fire or Purgatory he understands nothing but the grief of being deprived of these perishing things And this is that which he means in the same Book ‖ Enchir. cap. 109. That during the whole space of time between a mans death and the last Resurrection Souls are in hidden Receptacles according as they are worthy of repose or misery with respect to what they have been during this life A man cannot deny but this is Purgatory in its birth but it was not as yet believed and received of all the Church nor hath it been received nor perfected any where but in the Latin Church Behold that which I have to tell you concerning the changes happening in Doctrines and Worship I will not pass on to the following Ages because 't is not my design to give you a compleat History of all the changes which have happened in the Church for 1700 years I only desire to confound the boldness of Monsieur de Meaux and such-like which dare to affirm that Christianity in their hands is in the same estate in which it was when it passed from the Apostles to their immediate Successors and that time hath changed nothing that is essential in the Doctrine and Worship of the Church that insensible changes whereof some men speak to you are but Dreams Behold say I enough to ruine these rash affirmations of your Converters for from this short History which I have given you of the Doctrine and Worship of the Church for the space of 500 years it appears 1. That during these five Ages
naturally it cannot happen that a person should be on those Instruments of Torment without feeling very great pains But 't is a Miracle which hath a hundred and a hundred Examples in the History of the Martyrs both of the ancient Church and that of the Reformation They bring back our Martyr to the place where he was to prepare himself for death he dined because they would have it so and whilst he was eating he said to those that gave him his meat very calmly Others eat to live and I eat to die this is the last Repast that I shall take upon earth but against the Evening there is prepared a Banquet in the Heavens to which I am invited and whither I shall be conducted by the Angels These happy Spirits will suddenly remove me to make me partaker with them of the Delights of Paradise The rest of the day they let loose upon him many Monks who received no other Fruits of their Assaults but disappointment and confusion Amidst all those Distractions into which they endeavoured to cast him he employed himself in singing of Psalms in lifting up his Soul to God and presenting fervent Prayers to him About the Evening as he went forth of the Prison to go to Execution two Monks drew near to him saying We are here to accompany and comfort you He answered them I have no need of you I have a Comforter that is more faithful and which is within me for my Consolation I have a Guard of Angels round about my Person and which have assured me they will be with me to my last Breath He marched toward the place of Execution with an appearance of satisfaction and tranquillity of Spirit visible to all the Spectators and having observed some of our Brethren that were fallen pouring out floods of tears while they saluted him said to them Weep not for me but weep for your selves I shall be soon out of Sufferings and far from this Vale of Tears but I see and leave you there In the name of God recover and repent and he will have pity upon you When he was in a place and distance that he could see the Gibbet where he was to end his Combat he cryed out with transport of Joy Be strong be strong this is the place which I long since proposed to my self and for which God himself hath prepared me how welcome doth this place appear to me I there see the Heavens open to receive me and Angels coming to accompany me thither He would afterward have sung a Psalm as he drew near to the Gibbet but the Judges which saw that the Crowd was moved and pierced by the signs and tokens of his constancy imposed silence on him and forbad him to sing He obeyed because they constrained him and arriving to the Foot of the Ladder he said Oh how welcome is this Ladder to me sine it must serve me as a step to finish my course and mount to Heaven They permitted him to say his Prayers at the Foot of the Ladder And when he was ascended he saw Monks ascending after him which obliged him to repel them saying Retire I have told you and I tell you again I have no need of your succor I receive enough from my God to enable me to take the last step of my Journey He would have gone on and given a Reason of his Faith to that innumerable Crowd of People above which he was raised But they feared the effect of a Sermon preached from such a Pulpit and by such a Preacher They well foresaw that he would speak and therefore had set round about the Gibbet many Drums which they appointed to be beaten at once 'T is a new kind of Gag which is not altogether so frightful as that of another kind but produces the same effect The Spirit of Hell is always the same and hath always the same fears He hath often felt the force of those Preachers which preach from Gibbets and out of the Piles of Wood he fears their Eloquence and judges it most safe to impose silence on them Our Martyr therefore speaks not but for himself but his Countenance his Eyes his Hands bespeak his Courage his Faith and Constancy and this Language was so effectual that the Village of Beaucaire altho wholly plunged in darkness and prejudices for Popery was moved thereby in an extraordinary manner I do very earnestly wish that three or four sorts of persons would make Reflections on this death 1. The Enemies of Truth Is it possible that they cannot observe therein the Character of true Religion I do conjure them to consider what most resembles Jesus Christ and his Apostles whether a Man that dies as we have seen this young Man die or persons which cause him to die for his Religion and because he would not renounce it 2. I set this Object before the Eyes of the new Converts who being seduced either by their Passions or Illusions behold the Religion which they have left as abominable and such wherein the Spirit of God is not to be found can they well persuade themselves that so much Courage so much Piety so much Constancy so much Moderation so much Sweetness doth proceed from him who is the Father of Lies and the Fountain of Abominations If it be the Spirit of God which produces these miraculous effects in our Martyrs then our Religion is not deprived of it then God has not forsaken us then we are not out of his Church out of which there is neither Grace nor Holy Spirit To conclude I demand here the attention of the weak of those Men who bless themselves because they yet preserve the Truth in their Hearts and which perswade themselves that the Fault which they have committed in subscribing is very light I demand of them are not you obliged to do what this Martyr has done Has he given to God more than he owed him Who is he that is not obliged to seal and confirm the Truth by his Sufferings You have withdrawn your selves from paying that which you have received from God in the opportunities which he has offered you And you have withdrawn your selves by a faulty weakness and negligence by a lye both of Heart and Hand In what estate should we be if God had not left us a Remnant We should be like unto Sodom and Gomorrah we should not have had one Martyr i. e. one Witness of the Truth of our Lord Jesus You will say all are not capable of suffering Martyrdom At least confess then that you are in this respect in a great degree of Imperfection and that your Fault is great Don't justifie your selves at all recover your selves by Repentance if you would that God should pardon you I have given you the History of the Vigor which our Brethren of Languedoc have had to continue their Assemblies without interruption and thereby expose themselves to Martyrdom and Death with design to convince you of that which I have proved in
the beginning of this Letter i.e. that you ought not to procure to your selves consolation by hearing the Word of God in Popish Churches where you will find it seasoned and tempered in a way mortal to your Souls It is necessary that you search it after the manner that our Brethren of which I have been speaking have done I know well that your Flesh hath many things to say to me concerning it Some will say they are a great People in that Country and we are here but a handful of Men. The more easily mâ—y you communicate together the fewer you are in number the less are your motions perceived Others will say these People are favoured by the situation of their Country we are in Cities where they watch us night and day Hath the situation of their Country hindered them from the danger of being discovered hanged and sent to the Gallies Have they been discouraged by having been discovered once yea twenty times I do declare to you on the behalf of God if you don't renounce this Spirit of Fear and put on the Spirit of Martyrs God will forsake vou you will not find a Man that will be able to comfort you yea you will not receive Letters to support you You are afraid of the shadow of danger God will be very much beholden to you you will love him and you will enquire after him when there shall be no danger therein But 't is at present that you ought to make it appear whether you yet love God in exposing your selves to all dangers and often as you search consolation for your Souls and edification for your Faith. I pray God to have pity on your state and that he will give you such sentiments as you ought to have The Grace of our Lord be given to you again Amen Octob. 15. 1686. The FIFTH PASTORAL LETTER THE Christian Purity of the Apostolick Church opposed to that of Popery Letters of some Confessors My well beloved Brethren in our Lord Jesus Christ Grace and Peace be given to you from our God. IN our third Letter we promised to give you a brief History of the changes that have happened in Christianity in the first five hundred years of the Church that from thence you may understand the-unfaithfulness of Monsieur de Meaux and your Converters which tell you with so much impudence that Christianity is come down from the Apostles to them without alteration We have been obliged to delay the performance of that promise that we might make some reflections upon an information that hath been given us concerning the Conduct of the new Converts This was the subject matter of our fourth Letter We will return again at this time to the matter which we have discontinued and give a short pourtraiture and description of the Christianity of the first Age that you may see the changes that have happened in the Ages following The first Age of the Church WE cannot know the opinions and practices of an Age with any certainty but by the Authors of that Age. We have no Authors of the first Age of the Church but the Apostles and Evangelists And though others should be found that may be referred to that first Age we shall leave them to the second to which also they do belong because it is certain that those i. e. the Apostles and Evangelists do suffice to teach us what was the Religion of the Apostolick Church It is above all things just that we see what was the Religion of that first Age and by consequence we must consult the Writers of it This is the more certain because they were Divinely inspired and are the only infallible Doctors that we have In so much that if the Romish Religion be founded in these infallible Writers we are content that you abandon and give up your selves to your Converters But on the contrary if nothing thereof be found there it is just that you believe that all that we reject hath been added to the Christian Religion It is a prodigy that surpasses all belief that Popery should be the Christian Religion and that the Founders thereof should not speak one word concerning it It is true the Evangelists and Apostles learn us to believe one God in three Persons and one Son of God made Man who dyed for the sins of Mankind Rose again Ascended into Heaven and will come again to judge the quick and the dead and to send one part of them into everlasting Torments and to give the other Rewards infinite for extent and duration But this is not Popery this is Christianity Popery is a Sacrifice of the Body and Blood of our Lord every day offered to God for the sins of the living and the dead It is a new Jesus made of Bread descending at all hours between the Hands of the Priest which they adore as the great God. It is the Worship and Invocation of a second sort of Mediator and Intercessor to whom they build Temples erect Images and Altars to whose honor they Sacrifice Jesus Christ by whose name they swear to whom they make Vows and in one word to whom they give all those divine Honors that are given to God himself It is an intermediate state betwixt Heaven and Hell called Purgatory in which for a time Souls endure the pains of fire and the torments of the damned Purgatory which is the foundation of a thousand other Worships Penances Prayers for the dead Masses indulgences Stations Jubilees Mortifications and human satisfactions To conclude for I will nor say all Popery is an institution of a new Head and Spouse for the Church into whole hands the Lord Jesus hath committed all his Authority and Rights to pluck up and to plant to build and to destroy to bind and to loose to make and unmake Kings and to keep the Keys of Heaven and Hell. Behold what Popery is and once more I will say it is a prodigy that God should give us Scripture to instruct us in his Religion and that he should not say one word of the greatest and most considerable parts of it there In the Name of God my Brethren be not taken in this unhappy snare into which I perceive that some of you are fallen The Scripture could not say all say they it hath left Commission to the Church to say the rest Now is it possible that persons can permit themselves to be taken by so gross an illusion If the thing under debate were small peradventure it might be conceded but it is about Adoration of the Sacrament that is to say a piece of Bread and giving religious Worship to Creatures and Images The thing debated is about Celebration of a Sacrifice the most important thing in the World in Religion yea about the Sacrificing of Christ himself the greatest Sacrifice that can be imagined And can it be believed that God will send us to Tradition concerning it It is to have renounced all honesty to advance such a proposition and to be