neither in the Apostolick Church 3. They undertook a custom of bringing Offerings and Alms not in Silver but in Merchandize Bread Wine Corn Raisins Fruits c. And of that they offered on the Holy Table those things which might be of use in the publick Service whereas in the Apostolick Church we see no other Alms but such as were gathered by the Hands of the Deacons either at the end or beginning of their Assemblies 4. Of these Alms of the Believers they made Oblations to God consecrating them by Prayer 5. At the end of their Prayers before the Communion they added the mutual kiss which was not of Apostolick Institution and was afterwards abolished 6. Many persons entertained an opinion of the separate state for Souls after death a third place which was utterly unknown to the Apostles 7. They conceive an excessive Love for the Bones of the Martyrs nevertheless without giving them any kind of Worship or Religious Homage This excessive love for Bones was not reasonable nor was it of the Apostolick Age. 8. About the end of the second Age they appointed Feasts to celebrate the memories of the Martyrs which was not neither of Apostolick Institution 9. They appointed a day or two for Fasting before Easter Behold the principal Innovations in the second Age in which there is nothing almost that can be blamed considered in it self and separated from the Fruits and Consequences thereof To conclude to the end that you be not abused by false Authors you ought to know that we entertain none for the Writers of the second Age but these S. Clement the Disciple of S. Paul who writ an Epistle to the Corinthians S. Ignatius of whom we have many Epistles concerning which the Learned doubt with reason but we will nevertheless receive them in the present Affair S. Polycarp who wrote an Epistle to the Philippians the Epistle of the Church of Smyrna concerning the Martyrdom of S. Polycarp Justin Martyr whose Works ought to be distinguished for there are many among them which are falsly attributed unto him Athanagoras the Athenian of whom we have an Apology for the Christians and a Discourse concerning the Resurrection Theophilus of Antioch of whom we have three Books written to Autolycus Tatian of whom we have a Discourse in Defence of the Christian Religion and against that of the Pagans And in fine S. Ireneus Bishop of Lyons of whom we have a considerable Work against the Heresies of his Times If they quote unto you the Liturgies of S. Mark of S. James of S. Peter the Works of Dionysius the Areopagite the Canons of the Apostles and other like Discourses you ought to reject them as being false and forged in the opinion of all the Learned who have any thing of sincerity November 15 1686. THE SEVENTH PASTORAL LETTER CONCERNING Songs and Voices which were heard in several places in the Air. Dear Brethren in our Lord Grace and Peace be given to you from our God and Saviour Jesus Christ IN the last of our Letters we engaged our selves to communicate unto you certain notable matters of Fact which some of our Brethren have thought adviseable to impart unto us Amongst these matters of Fact I do not think there 's any one that better deserves to be examined than that which hath been reported to us That in many places where there have been formerly Churches Voices have been heard in the Air so perfectly like to our singing of Psalms that they could not be taken for any thing else If this be true 't is a wonder which very well deserves the labor of our attention We shall think our selves very ungrateful to the Divine Goodness if we should suppress so illustrious a Testimony of his Approbation He must be bold in this Age that dares speak of Prodigies Marvels Presages and other such like things There are times in which Men believe every thing in this wherein we now are they believe nothing I think there is a mean to be chosen we may not believe every thing but surely something ought to be believed For this Spirit of Incredulity and this Character of a brave Spirit is good for nothing and I have not as yet discovered the use thereof 'T is true Credulity hath destroyed Religion and introduced a thousand Superstitions for these unhappy Tales of Miracles done at the Tombs of Saints these Apparitions of Souls these pretended Visions of Spirits that come from the other World these say I have produced the Invocation of Saints the Adoration of Images Purgatory Masses the Prayers of the living for the dead For which reason I am content that Men stand upon their Guard when any thing is debated and reported concerning wonderful and pious Histories The generality of those which are called honest Men are come so far from thence that they have cast themselves on the other extreme and believe nothing 'T is to expose a Man's self and to be turned into Ridicule to maintain that there have been Miracles and that there may yet be they mock at Presages and have no Faith for that which they call Prodigies Nevertheless whither goes this and what will be the Issue of it 'T is to deny Providence 't is to make our selves believe God does not intermeddle in the Affairs here below and to ruine all the Principles of human Faith and by consequence to cast our selves on a perfect Scepticism which is peradventure a disposition of mind the most dangerous to Religion of any in the World. By doubting all matters of Fact which have any appearance of extraordinary they tell us they have no intention to extend it any farther than the History of the World. But we don't perceive that we insensibly entertain a habit of doubting which extends it self to every thing There is a God we all consent thereto There is a Providence we all profess and avow it Nothing comes to pass without him Is it possible that God should so hide himself behind his Creatures and under the veil of second Causes that he should never at any time tho never so little draw aside the Curtain If we have taken a resolution to deny the truth of all extraordinary matters of Fact what shall we do with History both sacred and profane Can we persuade our selves that the Historians of all Ages intended to deceive us by making us believe that the great Revolutions which have happened in the Societies of Men and the Church have been preceded by extraordinary Events such as Earthquakes Signs in Heaven and Prodigies on Earth They will say the most part of these Histories are Fables it may be so but if the most part be Fables there have been some which have been true If there had never been any true Prodigies they would not have reported those that were false for falshood is an imitation of Truth He must have a hardness and impudence that I understand not that can put all Historians in one rank and range them all together
to its ancient Simplicity And it is certain that these are Additions of the third Age. We must therefore know that the Christians of the second and third Age being disgusted at the Simplicity of the Apostolick Worship did blow up the Sacraments with Ceremonies that were added with intention to signifie the Grace that God did communicate and give there They caused the new baptised to eat Wine and Milk because they were the nourishments of Infants and they would signifie that Believers newly baptised ought to be as Children new born For which reason Tertullian makes the word infantare to design the Action by which they made the new baptised to taste Wine and Milk. They anointed them with Oil to signifie that spiritual Unction of Grace which Believers did receive they laid hands on them to signifie the Descent of the Holy Ghost The following Ages added Wax Candles and Torches to signifie spiritual Illuminations white Garments to represent the Innocence of the newly baptised and with the same intention many other Ceremonies But I know not how by an imagination which may be called rough and impolished in a little time after the Institution of these Ceremonies which were not instituted by the Church but to signifie Men came to believe they had the virtue to confer Grace And of the divers Graces which are confirmed to the Believers in Baptism they attribute one to the washing with Water another to Unction and another to Imposition of Hands They imagined that the Water in Baptism did precisely give the Remission of Sins that the Oil did bestow the spiritual Unction and that the Imposition of Hands gave the Holy Ghost This Divinity is found in Tertullian in the Book which he has left us concerning Baptism Where he proves the Imposition of Hands after Baptism causes the coming of the Holy Ghost and he does it thus 1. Because the Priests and Magicians of Paganism did cause malignant Spirits to come upon their impure Waters by a Ceremony much like unto it 2. Because by the Imposition of Hands Jacob drew down a Blessing upon the Children of Joseph 3. By the Figure of the Ark and Dove who brought an Olive Branch from the the midst of the Waters of the Deluge wherein this Dove was a Figure of the Holy Ghost which falls upon him that comes out of the Baptismal Waters S. Cyprian Bishop of Carthage who lived a little while after taught the same thing viz. that Baptism gives forgiveness of sins and that the Holy Spirit is communicated by the Imposition of Hands But let it not offend these great Men This Discourse signified nothing in their Age and a person may see that it is a Language which is descended from the Age of the Apostles and from those times in which extraordinary Gifts of the Spirit were communicated by the Imposition of Hands For will they say that Remission of Sins was given by the washing of Water and the Holy Spirit by the Imposition of Hands is it to be thought according to their opinion that sanctifying Grace and the Spirit of Regeneration are not at all given in Baptism No on the contrary S. Cyprian lays it down in express words That the Spirit is received by Baptism And in another place he does affirm that sanctifying Grace whole and entire is given in Baptism and that Men augment or diminish it afterwards by the good or evil use that they make of it there is therefore no need of a new Ceremony for the donation of the Holy Spirit He himself teaches us whence the Church took that custom of imposing Hands after Baptism 'T is from the Action of the Apostles Peter and John who laid Hands on the People of Samaria to the end that they might receive the Holy Ghost Which thing is done among us says he Those that are baptised present themselves to the Governors of the Church and receive the Holy Spirit by our Prayer and the Imposition of Hands and are compleated by the Seal of the Lord. The original of this Ceremony which S. Cyprian acknowledges ought to have made him confess the inutility thereof in his Age since they had no longer the power of communicating the miraculous Gifts of the Holy Ghost This Imposition of Hands was an imitation of the Apostles ill understood and Unction was also a pure Addition in this Age the effect whereof they were very much perplexed to express They said indeed this Unction was designed to give Grace but what Grace since Baptism communicates it whole and entire It is necessary says S. Cyprian that he who is baptised should also be anointed to the end that having received the Chrism that is to say the Unction he might be the anointed of God and have in himself the Grace of Jesus Christ Now the Eucharist and the Oil which they make use of to anoint the baptised are sanctified upon the Altar It is clear by these words that Unction is nothing else but a Ceremony of Baptism and that the Donation of the Grace of Jesus Christ is not attributed to it but because 't is annexed to Baptism For to give the Grace of Jesus Christ is the proper effect of Baptism according to all the Ancients It seems by this Passage that the Oil wherewith they anointed the baptised was consecrated Oil for S. Cyprian says It was consecrated on the Altar But this is not all for the sanctification of the Oil upon the Altar signifies no more than what we have observed concerning the second Age. 'T was that Believers brought Bread Wine and Oil and placed them upon the Holy Table They consecrated these Oblations by Prayer and they served themselves of them for the Usages of the Church among others they served themselves of Oil for Lights when they assembled by night and for the Unction of the baptised As to what remains you may observe that in the third Age nothing was seen but one Unction in Baptism whereas we shall find two afterwards Behold the Alterations which have happened to the Sacrament of Baptism in this Age. Let us consider the Eucharist We have observed that in the second Age they had added the mixture of Water with Wine the Custom of sending it to the absent by the Deacons and above all they had there annexed the Oblation of those Gifts that Believers made on the Altar as a part of the Ceremony This had already given it the appearance of a Sacrifice and indeed gave the name to the whole Action We shall not need to doubt but this imagination increased with time Christians having a very great desire to give to their Worship some appearance of a Sacrifice to take away the scandal which the Pagans conceived against them For they perpetually said to Christians You have no Temples Statues Altars nor Sacrifices and by consequence you are impious There was nothing in the Worship of the Christian Religion which might be dressed up in the likeness of a Sacrifice but the Eucharist They
them in pomp they kissed them and built Churches to them They prayed unto Saints they relyed upon their Intercession they put themselves under their protection To conclude as the time of the manifestation of the Man of Sin drew near and Christianity to be established all things moved to wards it with prodigious speed There was nevertheless a profound divine Providence which appeared then and deserves to be admired and to which we can never give sufficient attention Antichristianity which then advanced it self was not to ruine Christianity nor overturn the Foundations thereof It was to be built upon those Foundations which were to remain entire from Age to Age. To set these Foundations of Christian Religion in security God permitted that they should be violently assaulted by Hereticks and zealously defended by the Orthodox The Arrians denied the Eternal God-head of the Son the Macedonians that of the Holy Spirit the Nestorians gave him two Persons as well as two Natures that is to say they renewed the Heresie of Paulus Samosatenus and Photinus who made a simple or mere Man of Christ Jesus This is a thing which some Persons at this time have not well considered who excuse Nestorius and his Heresie It seems to me that 't is easie to comprehend that he which places a human Person in Christ makes of him a mere Man For if the joyning the Divine Nature be not made in a personal Union it can be no more than a Union of Grace and Assistance such as is that of inspired Men. The Eutychians by an opposite Error confound the two Natures All these Heresies gave opportunity for the clearing these matters and setting the Foundations of the Christian Religion in great light and in lovely order and fortifying them with the consent of all Christians This is it which produced divers Creeds besides that of the Apostles which is too general If Providence had not taken this care and precaution Antichristianity which came a great pace had entirely ruined the Christian Religion for besides these Fundamentals whereof God had taken care and set them in safety in three or four Ages their remained nothing else sound in the Church We will not therefore busie our selves in reckoning all the Changes which happened in Religion during these Ages that would carry us too far and would not be peradventure very profitable for you we will stay our selves only on the most considerable Innovations For example we ought not to forget that it was in the Fourth and Fifth Age that Monastick Life had its Original Those among the Doctors of the Roman Church which will grant us nothing make it descend from Elijab the Rechabites John the Baptist and the Apostles but this Opinion is so difficult to be maintained that I do not know whether at this day any Men of Learning which make any pretence to sincerity will deny that this kind of Life had Paul and Anthony for its first Authors who during the Persecutions of Dioclesian in the beginning of the Fourth Age or about the end of the Third withdrew themselves into the Desart of Thebais and were followed thither by many Men and there began that which they call the Eremetick Life It must be that this truth is plain in History since many Doctors of the Roman Religion notwithstanding the Interest they have to maintain the antiquity of this Institution do confess that it is but of the Third and Fourth Age. 'T is a long while since that * Polid. Virg. lib. Invent. 7. cap. 1. Polidore Virgil Bishop of Vrbin proved it and in our days Mr. d' Auteserre Professor of Law at Tholouse not only confesses it but proves it by the Testimonies of S. Hierome †Ascet lib. 1. cap. 7. Athanasius Chrysostome Cassian and Sozomon and indeed he must be ignorant in Antiquity or very knavish that will not own it and you may reckon this as a thing certain since 't is confessed by Popish Authors â—t this day and by S. Hierome who lived in the Age when Monkery had its original and who was one of the most zealous Lovers of Monastick Life that ever was 'T is true that in the preceding Ages the Fathers tell us of Virgins consecrated to God yea and of Men who preserved their Virginity and lived in a chaste Celibate to the end they might serve God with greater freedom but this hath nothing common with the Life of the Monks and Nuns of the present Age. These young Damosels were not cloystered it appears by S. Cyprian * Cyprian Epist 72. that they might marry when they pleased that they lived with their Friends or in their own Houses And even in the time of S. Jerome the most part of them were so little restrained that they made and received Visits they went to Weddings they were found at Feasts they went to the Baths they adorned themselves with the same Pride and the same Excess as did the Daughters of the World. Paul and Anthony having been driven by Persecutions into the Desarts did there first establish the Hermetick Life Afterwards they formed there some kind of Convents and Societies So they instituted in the Desart a kind of Cenobitick Life but this kind of Life received its most perfect Figure about the end of the Fourth Age by three Bishops whereof two were Hereticks and the third Orthodox one of these Hereticks was Marathon * Socr. lib. 2. cap. 3. Bishops of Nicomedia an Arrian and a Macedonian The other Heretick was Eustachius of Sebaste in Armenia a semi-Arrian deposed by the Arrians the eldest of all those who made Rules for the Cenobitick Life †Sozom. lib. 3. cap. 14. The Orthodox was S. Basil Bishop of Cesaria in Capadocia This last drew the Monks from the Desart under pretence of confuting the Arrians he formed Societies of them near Cities and gave them Rules 'T is he which the Greek Monks at this day acknowledg for their Author and there are no Monks of any other Order in the East but of that of S. Basil whereas in the West there is an infinity of Orders We doubt not many of those and these who in the beginning engaged themselves in this kind of Life did do it with a good intention yea and there led a Life eminently Holy But as God does not bless Institutions which respect Religion which are but humane we may observe that the Spirit of Darkness and we may say a Spirit of Malediction fell upon this Institution even from its beginning It was not above a hundred years after there had been discourse of Monks and Nuns but the Spirit of Fables and Legends had seized on their Societies S. Jerome hath left us the Life of Paul and Hilarion two Founders of the Monastick Life These Lives are written in good Latin but with so little judgment and truth that we may be ashamed thereof for the sake of so great a man. There is the Life of S. Anthony attributed to Athanasius which
flames before they gave up the ghost they were made to live by skill and art in the most cruel torments sometimes many days and sometimes many weeks together and never did one word of murmuring or impatience escape from them they prayed for their Hangmen they gave Thanks to God they sung his Praises and to their last breath called upon his Name When they tell you at this day If your Religion were true you would adhere more closely unto it answer them If our Religion had been false they had never had so invincible an Adherence to it and so strong a Passion for it nor had they ever suffered death for the defence of it or if there have been some heady persons that have maintained their Opinions with obstinacy even to punishment and death their pains and death hath not been accompanied with an humility so profound a patience so exemplary a love and sweetness so perfect a zeal so ardent a piety so pure and undefiled a submission so entire a joy so firm solid bright and shining The Spirit of Lies and Delusions doth not produce such effects These are the Characters of the Spirit of God they are the effects of Grace and of that Grace that is not given to Reprobates and Martyrs of falshood and imposture My Brethren these Objects are at a distance they are behind you and you will find some difficulty in reflecting on them but you will find none in considering those that are before your eyes they are sufficient to defend you against the scandal of that Facility wherewith they reproach you and wherewith they affirm that your Brethren have forsaken their Religion Oppose thereunto above one hundred thousand persons that have left the Realm within the space of one year last past without counting almost as many more that have forsaken it within twenty years that this Persecution hath continued tho not in its height and rage There are among them those that have forsaken all those things which are called Goods Honours Ease and the convenient Accommodations of Life certainly they did not find it a thing so easie to enter with a satisfied mind into the bosom of the Roman Church Oppose thereunto more than forty thousand Prisoners that are in the Goals and Cloisters of the Realm which chuse to suffer all sorts of miseries and calamities there rather than to embrace the Popish Religion Oppose thereunto Persons of Quality such are the Marquess of Bordage condemned to the Galleys and afterwards to perpetual Imprisonment the Marquess of Musse who every day expects the same condemnation the Marquess of Rochegade and the Gentlemen his Sons the Marquess of Cagni Monsieur Beringhen and all his Family the Marquess of Lunge the Marquess of the Isle of Gast who is in the Citadel of Anger 's and an infinite number of other Gentlemen who prefer the Galleys or a Prison before the pleasure to which the Bishop of Meaux invites them that is of rejoining themselves to that Church in which their Fathers served God. Oppose thereunto a considerable number of Martyrs and Confessors whereof some are in Dungeons that are really the Images of Hell they being deep obscure dark and a hundred feet under ground such are the Reformed of Diepe Haure and other places which are in the Prisons of Aumale of whom we shall be able to tell you particular stories at some other time Add to these more than six hundred persons that are now actually in the Galleys for their Religion This is no hyperbolical Computation but one made by a Roman Catholick a maritime Officer now living at Marseilles we have his Letter and without naming him we shall be able to produce it at a convenient season behold a line or two thereof at present Here are six hundred Gally-slaves of the Religion called Protestant who by their patience move compassion from the most hard-hearted and unpitiful of their Officers The number of them must needs be augmented since that time for the Letter was dated from Marseilles the 27th of June 1686. that is to say more than two months since and without doubt there are more arrived there 'T is newly reported that at this time there are to the number of two thousand some say four thousand in that miserable state and case The famous Monsieur Lewis of Marolles Advocate of Stemenehaud was not then arrived there for he parted not from Paris with the other Prisoners under the same condemnation with himself till the 20th of July and came not to Dijon till the 30th of the same Month from whence at last he arrived at Marseilles laden with a Chain of fifty pound weight about his neck and a violent Fever which never left him during the time of that sad Journey He is a Confessor of Jesus Christ which all Paris beheld at the ‖ Tournello loaden with Chains of an extraordinary weight A Court of Judicature in Paris and also a Prison and preaching in the midst of his Irons All France have their eyes turned upon him as on the greatest example of Courage Piety and tenderness of Conscience that this Age hath seen We shall one day give you the History of his Confession and make you to understand his Sentiments by his own Letters where you will see the Spirit and Character of the ancient Martyrs He is one of our most illustrious Confessors but he is not alone God raises up others every day as you shall learn hereafter The same Sea-Officer that wrote from Marseilles that there were already six hundred Gally-slaves of the Reformed Religion there adds 'T is fifteen days since that Monsieur de Lezan a Gentleman of Quality was condemned to the Gallies being accused and convicted of having been at a Meeting The day after many persons were put to the Rack to oblige them to accuse some men of Name These unhappy Wretches endured both the ordinary and extraordinary Rack with such a constancy as affrighted the Judges and softned the Spirit of the Hangman to that degree that the chief Magistrate was forced to stand over him with a Cane to oblige him to turn the Wheel Behold here truth in matters of fact which can never be doubted seeing they are attested by a person of a contrary Religion who is upon the place and in the Country where these cruelties are committed Behold Confessors which make it apparent that the Church of Rome does not find it a thing so facile as the Bishop of Meaux reports it to cause the Reformed to enter into their Communion Behold Examples of Constancy that are worthy of your most attentive Consideration Death is more easie to be endured than the ordinary and extraordinary Rack and those illustrious Confessors do well deserve the Title of Martyrs But will you oppose to that Facility which your Converters find and whereof they make an Argument to draw you into the Roman Religion will you I say oppose to your Seducers Martyrs in all forms Oppose to them Monsieur Teissier
entertained However it be these Gentlemen persuade their Disciples that it is not the Spirit of the Roman Church that doth cause this Persecution Nothing must be imputed to any Religion but what it appoints to be believed The Church never serves it self of force for it hath no other Arms but such as are Spiritual There is among the Doctors of the Roman Church on the one hand an impudence and hardness of Face which is inconceivable and on the other hand there is in their Disciples an abyss of credulity that is incomprehensible Can hardiness and shamelesness be greater than to say that Persecution is not of the spirit of the Roman Church One of our * See the Letter of Doctor Sonstelle Brethre hath written concerning it a little while since with so much brevity that every one may read it and with so much strength as to convince them of the falshood thereof We prove that the Persecution is of the spirit of the Church of Rome by its Principles its Doctrine and its Practice I do not know whether there can be any other source or fountain of proofs when we treat of matters of Fact. The Principles of the Roman Church are that all those that are separate from their Church are damned eternally It s Doctrine is that the Secular Power with Fire and Sword may be employed for the extirpation of those that she calls Hereticks The Council of Constance which France esteems as the most Authentick that hath been these thousand years hath so determined and so it practised For it caused John Lous and Jerome Osprague to be burned The Albigenses Waldenses Bohemians and many others were not Massacred but by order of Councils and Popes who published Crusadoes against them and gave Indulgences and promised Pardon of sin to those that should destroy them The Tribunal of the Inquisition which burns all those that are either suspected or Convicted of Heresie is a Tribunal of the Church established and maintained thereby and it is looked on by the Popes as the great Rampart and Defence thereof Never were there any Massacres committed which were not either Commanded or Approved by Popes They are matters of Fact notoriously known and no body dares to dissent unto them Rome hath sung Te Deum that is We praise thee O God c. and given thanks to him for the Persecution of France Nothing is more proper to make known what is the Spirit of the Roman Church than the Conduct of the Court of Rome We have said that the Pope publickly commends what hath been done in France and hath caused Te Deum to be sung for it In the mean time it is certain that all Men of good sense in the Court of Rome do both detest and scoff at the Conduct of France Whence comes it then that this Court seems to approve in publick that which it condemns in private It is not to flatter the King for they have no respect or regard for him in that Country and every one knows the indignation that they have against him But it is because that Rome dares not declare against the Principles of their Religion If the Pope should condemn ways of violence against pretended Hereticks he would mutiny his whole Church against himself and make himself worthy of deposition He would condemn his Councils he would reproach the memory of his Predecessors he would overturn his own Principles from top to bottom So that the publick approbation which he gives to Persecution is the Sacrifice which he makes of his Conscience to his duty in quality of a Pope But like a Man of good sense he reserves the right of condemning in private all that which he publickly approves The Letter of the Queen of Sueden which hath been made publick in the News of the Republick of Learning hath conjectured discreetly concerning it For it is not to be believed that Queen Christina would dare so openly to declare her self against the Sentiments of the Court of Rome if that Court had approved of this manner of Conversions Behold a second Letter of the same Queen which tells us something more exact concerning the Sentiments which prevail in the Country where she is A Letter of Queen Christina to M 'T IS with astonishment that I have seen my Letter made publick in your Parts I do not understand how it is come to pass and I do assure you that it is not I my self that have published it Nor do I believe that he to whom it was written would so far disoblige his Master as to be willing to do me that pleasure However it be I do not repent that I wrote it for I do not fear any man. I pray God with all my heart that this false Joy and Triumph of the Church do not one day cost her true tears and sorrows In the mean time it must be known for the honour of Rome that all those that are men of merit and understanding here and animated with true Zeal do no more lick up the Spittle of the French Court in this case than I do They behold as I also do with pity all those things which pass in the World where there is given so much reason both of grief and laughter to those that are the Spectators thereof Our only consolation is that God will not abandon his Church but give a glorious issue to all its Calamities which are far greater than are imagined but it behoves us to adore God and the incomprehensible dispositions of his holy providence in every thing that betides us I heartily wish you prosperity From Rome May 18. 1686. Christina Alexandra It behoves us to speak as the case is the Court of Rome disapproves the conduct of the King because it is his Enemy The Persecution is of no value because 't is he that doth it However it be we are in no condition in France to make use of the moderate Sentiments of Italy For the Galican Church hath renounced this moderation She pays Men of Learning to prove that ways of Violence are permitted At this day all the Realm is full of Writers which labour to justifie compel them to come in They quote S. Augustin they report his opinions concerning the Persecution that was raised against the Donatists 'T is notorious that the Clergy of France have been the Authors of the Persecution They cannot deny that they have drawn up all the Edicts and that they have sollicited the execution of them so that we cannot comprehend how the Converters can endure that their Disciples should say That we ought not to impute any thing to a Religion but that which it appoints to be believed and practised and that the Roman Church doth not appoint any Violence to be practised against Hereticks But the Bishop of Meaux finds a very pleasant means to justifie her the Church never serves it self with force by it self says he that is to say it calls to her succour the secular Power to cut
Novelty and by consequence the Authors thereof of boldness and temerity seeing it is an opinion that hath always prevailed that it is a Criminal enterprise to Innovate in Religion And so the Superstitions of the fifth Age were well content to suffer posterity to believe that the Invocation of Saints and the Adoration of Relicks were more ancient than the preceding Age. To conclude about insensible changes whereof the possibility is denied I beseech you my Brethren observe the spirit and temper of your Converters and tell me what name ought to be given to them We prove to them the changes that are happened in the Church by proofs more clear and evident than the light of the Sun. For example we shew them that in such an Age there was no Invocation of Saints or Angels We shew it them I say not only by negative proofs as we use to speak that is to say by the silence of the Writers of such an Age but by positive proofs and because the opinions of the Writers and the practice of the Church then were wholly opposite thereunto Afterwards we shew them the first beginnings the original and the progress of Error Superstition and Idolatry In one Age we see plainly that such worship was not practised in the Age following it is as plain that it was practised I do maintain that a Man must have renounced all shame to say as these Gentlemen that from such an Age to the following there was no change and the foundation of this impudence is because no single person is found whose name is known that did arise and laboured to introduce such or such an Error or Superstition which met with great opposition but at length surmounted them all They that please to make use of their understandings and consult with History may find that this affirmation hath no truth nor place but in changes that happen at a push and all together the Novelty whereof doth affright and stir up opposition but in Customs and Opinions that prevail gradually and by little and little it is not so The Invocation of Saints and the Worship of Images were not established by one single person nor at one single heat A whole people by a false Devotion permitted themselves insensibly to fall into certain practices that seemed very Innocent and it may be they were not very Criminal They which came after thrust forward this Superstition and in fine it came to Idolatry I will say yet once more I know not how a Mans mind and spirit must be made to say that such manner of changes are impossible These Gentlemen cannot deny that the Worship of the Church of Rome at this day is very much different from that of the Apostolick Church Take it for granted my Brethren that there is no Roman Catholick Doctor who will not acknowledge that the Liturgy of the Mass at this day is more compounded and less simple than it was in the days of St. Paul. Were these additions made in a sensible manner Were not these changes introduced by little and little The more sincere of these Gentlemen as Monsieur Baluzius and the Author of the Dialogues against the Iconoclasts of the Sr Maimbourg do acknowledge that in the first three Ages of the Church there were no Images and we do affirm that in the fifth and sixth Age there were many We cannot name the first Author of this attempt and of the introduction of Images into Churches Will Monsieur Baluzius therefore affirm that from the time of the Apostles there were Images in Churches But What It is to small purpose to speak these Gentlemen persevere to maintain that no change hath been made in the Doctrine and Worship of the Church and that none can be made and we do maintain it can be made because it hath been made We have precisely the same thing to say which we said concerning the infallibility of the Church the Papists say it hath not erred for it is infallible and we say it is not infallible for it hath erred Also they say there has been no change made in the Doctrine of the Church for it was impossible any should be made there and we say it is very possible changes should happen there for so it is come to pass Who is it that reasons best That depends only on the question in matter of Fact. We must see whether changes have actually happened in the Doctrine and Worship of the Church Now it is my design to make it apparent that changes have arrived there this is necessary for the dissipation of an unhappy illusion wherewith they serve themselves to blind you It is Antiquity Tradition Conformity with the Religion of St. Augustin St. Chrysostom and St. Ambrose I shall therefore undertake to give you a short History of the changes which have happened in the Church at least for the first five Ages thereof It is the surest method to shew you how false the impossibility of insensible changes is and this will be the surest remedy to lessen the charm of false Antiquity by which they endeavour to deceive you This shall be the matter of our following Letters where we will set before your Eyes the State of Christianity and the changes which are arrived there during the space of five hundred years ☜ To finish this Letter my dear Brethren I will set before your Eyes an example which ought to shame the most of you If you confess God it is in secret if you sigh it is in your own Bosom the most part of you dare not give any publick mark though never so little bright and shining of the Sentiments that are in the bottom of your Soul. Learn the Conduct of our poor Brethren the Inhabitants of Cevennes The Edict of Nantes was made void the year past on the month of October the Pastors were chased away and all exercise of Religion forbidden upon great penalties expressed by the Declaration But these Inhabitants of the Mountains began their private Assemblies from the month of November following And God raised up from among them persons that without Study and without Learning put themselves at the head of these Assemblies for their Edification I will not tell your their names lest I should put them in hazard and danger There was a private person of the place called V. to whose word God gave so much efficacy that after some Assemblies where there were but a few persons one night he had the pleasure of comforting many hundreds And these Assemblies continuing almost every day one day a little before night there were found more than eight hundred persons upon the Mountain of Brion near to Caderles They had there the consolation of hearing two excellent Prayers and one Sermon after all those that had the courage to resist temptation did partake in the Sacrament of the Supper of our Lord. Many of those which had fallen with a great many fears desired the Communion among others a Woman of Quality was
Nourishment of our Members The same Justin which calls the Eucharist Flesh and Blood calls it Bread and Wine after the Consecration and at the time of the Distribution They give says he to all those that are present Bread and Wine over which Praises and Thanksgivings have been made Because he hath said that 't is not common Bread we must not conclude that 't is not Bread at all if it be not thought fit that we say a great Man is no Man because it hath been said that he is no ordinary or common Man. I must also give you notice in this place my Brethren that you beware of a snare that they compose or make of several Passages of the Fathers of this Age where they make you read the words Altar Oblation and Sacrifice on the Subject of the Eucharist and by these Words and Terms they endeavour to perswade you that the Sacrifice of the Mass was then known The word Altar is not found in the Authors of the second Age whose Writings are indisputable 'T is found in the Canons attributed to the Apostles and in the Epistles of S. Ignatius But 't is known that their Writings are not owned by all the World. Nevertheless I am inclined to believe that from that time they called the Table of the Eucharist Altar For why should they make any scruple of using the word Altar seeing they made use of the words Oblation and Sacrifice when they spake of this Sacrament But you must know 1. That 't was an Innovation in the Terms and that in the Writings of the Apostles you never find the words Altar Oblation or Sacrifice on that Subject Read the History of the Institution of the Eucharist the Acts of the Apostles where the breaking of bread is often spoken of that is the Celebration of the Sacrament of the Supper Read the tenth and eleventh Chapters of the first Epistle to the Corinthians where much is said of this Sacrament you do not see these Terms there 2. You must know that these terms Altar Oblation and Sacrifice took their originals from the custom that Christians had in those times of bringing their Offerings of Bread and Wine and other things necessary for the Service of the Church and the maintenance of its Pastors and setting them as an Offering to God on the Communion Table Yea they offered them to God by certain Prayers the Forms whereof are still found in the ancient Liturgies 3 To conclude you ought to hold for certain that these Oblations these Sacrifices c. of the second Age had no relation to the consecrated Signs or Elements For no Oblation was made to God of the Signs or Elements of Bread or Wine after their Consecration Observe that in the passage of Justin Martyr immediately after the Consecration of Bread and Wine the distribution was made and no Oblation between them And for an undoubted proof thereof observe that they are the Believers that make these Oblations and not the Priests alone Hear S. Clement Romanus the Disciple and Companion of S. Paul Those says he who make their Oblations at appointed times are acceptable and happy for in following the Commandments of God they commit no sin By this we do not intend to affirm that afterwards the Priest don't bless these Oblations and present them to God. But learn from S. Ireneus what 's understood by these Oblations and what they were Jesus Christ says he hath given advice to his Disciples to offer to God the first Fruits of his Creatures not that he hath any need of them with respect to himself but to the end they might not appear with respect to themselves ungrateful and unfruitful he took Bread which is a Creature and gave thanks thereon saying This is my body c. And he hath taught us a new Oblation of the New Testament which the Church receiving from the Apostles offer as the first Fruits of his Gifts to God which gives us food and nourishment You very well see that the Church offers not Jesus Christ the Creator to God but Bread which is the first Fruits of his Creation You see well that this Oblation is presented to God as a Thanksgiving because he has given us the Nourishments of Bread and Wine and not transubstantiated Bread for a propitiatory Sacrifice Hear how he speaks yet of these Oblations They are not Sacrifices that sanctifie the Man but it is the Conscience of him that offers sanctifies the Sacrifice c. seeing then that the Church offers with simplicity 't is but Justice that its Oblation pass for a pure Sacrifice before God. Behold an undoubted Blasphemy according to the Principles of Popery The Eucharist is a Sacrifice but the Sacrifice of the Body of Jesus Christ doth not sanctifie the Man on the contrary 't is the Conscience of him that offers who sanctifies the Sacrifice of the Body of our Lord in the Mass There is say I a Blasphemy in all shapes and forms Acknowledge therefore that nothing is debated there but the Offerings that Believers set upon the holy Table And that ye may have a perfect knowledge of what was then done in the Celebration of the holy Supper add from S. Clement and S. Ireneus that which was wanting in S. Justin 1. 'T is the Believers brought Bread Wine Wax Oil and other things necessary in the Church And as for Fruits and Animals Apples and Pulse necessary for the maintenance of life they carried them to the Bishops House 2. These things set upon the Table were consecrated to God by Prayer 3. Of the Bread and Wine which had been thus offered they took one part for the Celebration of the Eucharist and the rest was spent by the Ministers of the Church and divided among them for their support and maintenance Behold the only Oblation that was then made and 't is nothing nevertheless from thence is come an Innovation in the Terms and from thence insensibly is come the Sacrifice of the Mass Behold the meaning of the third the fourth and the fifth Canons attributed to the Apostles The third forbids that they present upon the Altar Hony Milk Birds Beasts and Pulse The second permits to offer Ears of Corn Raisins Oil for the Lights and Incense And the fifth ordains that they carry their Fruits to the Bishops and Presbyters to be distributed among them and their Deacons In the Margin of these Canons the Roman Doctors set these Words The Sacrifice of the Mass appointed by our Lord. What shameless Foreheads have they Do Men sacrifice Oil and Incense in the Sacrifice of the Mass In the second Age where we now are nothing is found of that which is called Confirmation which is one of the Popish Sacraments But it doth not appear that the Primitive Christians even to the end of the second Age did employ any Unction for the giving the Holy Spirit and for the Confirmation of those that had been baptised 'T is true they imposed Hands on
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
first Author of that Separation But 't is a ridiculous Chimera to imagine that they were out of the Essential Unity seeing that when they went away they carried with them the true Jesus the true Doctrine and the true Sacraments They were yet the Church they were Christians whatever St. Cyprian says of them and not only their Martyrs obtained the Crown of Martyrdom but their penitent Christians obtained Salvation although they died in Schism There are particular Unities and a general Unity Particular Unity consists in certain Bonds such as are common Ecclesiastick Government common Discipline and certain common Ceremonies You are not in particular Unity with the Episcopal Church of England with respect to Government But this Unity signifies nothing to Salvation he must be a mad man to damn Christians because they either have or have not Bishops The general Unity which consists in the three things which I have said is the only essential necessary and saving Unity If you agree with the Church in Government Discipline and Ceremonies and don 't agree with it in Opinions in Sacraments and Spirit you have no Communion with it if you differ in Government and Discipline and agree in Truths Sacraments and the same Jesus you are at Unity with it and with God. This Vnity of the Church whereof we have now discoursed makes me think of that unity of Souls which ought to prevail among the true Members of the Body of Christ It is the Character under which the Apostolick Church is described unto us They were all of one heart and one mind 'T is this holy Unity which draws down the holy Spirit for when the firy Tongues fell upon the Apostles they were all with one accord assembled in one place 'T is the absence of this holy Unity which in part hath drawn down those unhappy Effects of the Wrath of God under which we now groan Call to mind the Divisions the immortal Hatreds Jealousies Quarrels and Strifes which have been seen in the midst of you even on occasions and in things for which Peace and the Spirit of Charity were particularly requited One was of Paul another of Peter but not one for Jesus Christ Men made their own Passions and Interests to triumph and trampled under foot the Glory of God and the publick Edification The strictest friendships were always ready to break on the first transport of Passion The Spirit of Vengeance had no rest till it had revenged the Injuries it thought it had received and we knew not what it was to sacrifice a resentment to the Love of God and his Christ God has made these civil Wars to cease by a cruel and strange War. You have a common tye more than you have had you have had the same Faith the same Sacraments the same Churches and the same Holy Table besides you have at this day your common Affliction and your common Misfortunes 'T is certain that even in the World this makes a tye among Souls and it should do with far greater reason when men suffer the same grief for the same cause and for the same God. You ought mutually to love each other because you are afflicted for God and by consequence you ought to love those also who suffer for you they are your Confessors who have the glory to maintain in the Prisons those Truths with you have been so weak only to keep close in your Hearts having not the courage to shew them openly Among those which are in divers Prisons of the Realm for the Cause of God there are an infinite number that want all things these are Voices that cry against you to Heaven in a terrible manner and say What a shame is it that Jesus Christ is in Prison that he is Sick Hungry and Thirsty that he freezes with cold during the rigor of the Winter and that these Peters who grew pale at the word of a Servant don't go to visit him to give him Bread and Cloaths You know what will be the Sentence that the Lord will give to such think of it and partake-in the Bonds of your Brethren though they be at the utmost ends of the Kingdom Feb. 1. 1687. The TWELFTH PASTORAL LETTER AN Article of Antiquity The beginning of the History of Christianity of the Fourth and Fifth Ages Of the Original of Monks An Article of Controversie Of the Unity of the Ministry HAving finished the History of the Christianity of the Third Age we enter upon the Fourth We shall not distinguish that of the Fourth and Fifth they are so interwoven that they cannot be separated All the Superstitions false Worship and Corruptions of Discipline which are found established in the Fifth Age took their beginning in the Fourth We enter upon Ages in which the Church had entirely changed its Face it is no longer a persecuted Church it triumphs it reigns it ascends the Throne The Emperors becoming Christians drew along with them by their Authority and Examples an infinite number of Pagans who had that Complaisance and Civility for their Masters as to become Christians But the Church also on her part had the Complaisance to burthen Religion with vain Worship and Ceremonies borrowed from Paganism All that which she thought might be innocently taken from thence she took to draw them over to her The Bishops inrich'd by the Liberality of Constantine and his Successors became proud they would have a distinct Jurisdiction from the Civil they established for themselves Tribunals It appears by the Book of Constitutions falsely ascribed to the Apostles that the Bishops had Flatterers which said of them or rather they said of themselves many incredible proud and impertinent things * Vit. Const lib. 2. cap. 37 38. They set themselves above Kings they said that they must pay them Tributes and Tenths and that Men owed them greater Honors than Kings and that they had power to condemn to everlasting Fire Above all the Pomp and Pride of the Bishops of Rome that ruling City became such that they gave jealousie to the Chief Magistrates of the Empire They added to the Sacraments new Ceremonies an Unction before Baptism beside that which followed after it the Prayers and Ceremonies of the Liturgy of the Eucharist which they call at this day the Mass were much increased and augmented they made use of Holy Waters they consecrated Oyls and Chrism their Funerals were enriched with Ceremonies borrowed from Judaism or Paganism they had their Ninth day their Fortieth day and their yearly Obits or Prayers for the Dead they affixed Prayers to certain hours which at this day they call Canonical the Cock crowing Nine of the Clock Mid-day Three of the Clock and Vespers In these Ages they did essentially alter Divine Service by intermingling therewith the Service of Creatures A kind of Furie for Relicks seized on the Spirits of Men nothing was heard to be spoken of but Visions by which they had been discovered and Miracles which had been done by them they carried
valid and even to extend these Canons very far beyond their intention They have been willing to perswade First That they have right to receive Appeals whereas the Council of Sardis grants them nothing but the right of appointing a review which is very much different from it Secondly And above all they would make us believe that they have this Power by Divine Right and from the Apostles whereas they have it not but by the Canons of this Council of Sardis In the Year 383 that is to say about Sixty Years after the Council of Nice and Thirty six after that of Sardis was held the first Council of Constantinople which is reckoned for the second of those which are called General altho it were made up of an Hundred and fifty Fathers and no more and tho there were none at all of all the West This Council enlarges and confirms the Hierarchy But it did not yet establish the Patriarchs i. e. the four Seats which pretend to have Dominion over all the Churches of the World On the contrary in the second Canon it ordains 1. That the Bishops of one Diocess i. e. of one Province for then a Diocess did not signifie the particular Church of one Bishop 't was a Collection of many Bishops under one Exarch It appoints say I That the Bishops of one Province should not intermeddle in the Affairs of another and this without excepting the Bishop of Rome 2. It appoints That the Bishop of Alexandria administer only the Affairs of Egypt 3. That the Bishops of the East i. e. of Syria govern their Churches preserving to the Bishop of Antioch the Preheminence that had been given him by the Council of Nice 4. That the Bishop of Asia whereof Ephesus was the Head govern the Diocess of Asia without being subject to Antioch Constantinople or Rome 5. That the Churches of Thrace be governed by the Bishops and Synods of the Province without any other Superior 6. That the Churches amongst the barbarous Nations govern themselves according to the custom of their Fathers without Patriarchs and without Pope There is no footstep of any Papal Authority nor even of any Patriarchal and Universal In the following Canon we read these words That the Bishop of the City of Constantinople hath the Privileges of Honor after the Bishop of Rome because it is new Rome A Canon which gives to the Bishop of Rome nothing but Privileges of Honor and Presidence and grants them to be enjoyed by New Rome in the second Place For this reason the Bishops of Constantinople would no longer sit below the Bishops of Antioch and Alexandria because the City of their Seat was the Imperial City This makes it appear that the Bishops had no Preheminence one before another but by reason of the Cities where they had their Seats and not by any divine Right The Case is the same with the Bishop of Rome That Bishop gained nothing by all this as is evident nevertheless the truth is he always grew higher according to the measure that the Hierarchy advanced For the Exarchs assumed unjust Rights over those which were merely Bishops The Bishops of the Four first Seats Rome Constantinople Alexandria and Antioch raised themselves by little and little above the Exarchs and at last subjected and swallowed them up Particularly he of Constantinople whose Ambition was not inferior to that of the Bishop of Rome made himself Judg of the Exarchates of Pontus and Asia and that of the Barbarian Churches with that of Thrace which he had already 'T was in the Fourth Oecumenical Council held at Calcedon in the Year 451. where it was ordained that * Can. 28. The Church of Constantinople should enjoy the same Priviledges and Honours in Ecclesiastical Matters seeing the City of Constantinople in Temporal Matters did enjoy the same Priviledges and Honors with ancient Rome But if Constantinople did then exalt it self Rome did not do it less in proportion Already the Bishops of Rome began to Lord it over all the West Leo I. was placed in that Seat a Man who had great Parts but of great Pride who played the Master in the Church He declared that a Man is not of the Church when he does not obey it he proceeded so far as to say That Jesus Christ intended that all his Gifts should run down from the Chair of S. Peter as from the Head on all the Body of the Church and that he which dared to separate himself from the Chair of S. Peter ought to understand that he is excluded from the divine Mysteries i. e. from the Church This was the Leo that obtained a Law from the Emperor Valentinian by which he was established Sovereign Judg of all other Bishops for which reason we take this Episcopacy of Leo for the first Point of the birth of the Antichristian Empire This is enough for my end which is not to give you a History of the Hierarchy and after that of the Papal Tyranny in all their Progressions but only an Abridgment of the History of their birth in the Fourth and Fifth Ages That which I have to observe for the conclusion of this Article whereunto you ought to give good attention is that the brief History that I have given you is perfectly agreeable to the Spirit of the Gallican Church at this day She maintains 1. That the Church of Rome is no more but a particular Church as others are 2. That S. Peter had nothing but a Primacy of Order and Presidence above the Apostles 3. That S. Peter could give to his Successors over other Bishops no more but that Primacy which he had over the Apostles 4. That the Bishop of Rome originally and by divine Right had no power over the Universal Church 5. That he did not receive Appeals in the first Ages of the Church 6. That he had no Right to assemble General Councils 7. That he could take cognizance of the Affairs of no other Province but his own no not by Appeal 8. That he had no Right to take knowledge of Matters of Faith to make Decisions therein which should oblige the whole Church 9. That before the Council of Nice and after he had no inspection over other Churches but those which were in the Neighborhood of Rome 10. That he could no excommunicate other Bishops any otherwise than the other Bishops could excommunicate him 11. That a Man might separate himself from the Bishop of Rome without being a Schismatick and out of the Church 12. That the Pope had no Right over other Bishops 13. That the Council of Sardis is the Fountain of that Right of receiving Appeals which the Pope claims 14. That the Rights which the Pope hath at this day excepting his Primacy are by human Law and because he hath assumed them to himself or because they have been conceded to him 15. To which they add he is not Infallible nor superior to Councils nor Master of the Temporalities of Kings Behold the
the Title Attributes Privileges Powers and Homages which appertain to the Deity That the Worship of Images by which we prostrate our selves before Wood and Stone against an express Prohibition of the Law by which we adore that which is but Bread That the setting up a new real and true Sacrifice unknown to Jesus Christ and the Apostles That the taking the half of one Sacrament and the addition of five whole ones That to cover a superstitious Worship and bury it in a barbarous Language do you believe say I that all this is called Wood Hay and Stubble Doth not sound Sense tell you that Wood Hay and Stubble are light are trifling things but that they are not filthy and wicked and by consequence that it doth not represent any thing but light and trifling Doctrines but such as have nothing in them that is filthy or evil such as are besides the Word of God but not against it There is no Man which does not perceive this and he must be blinded by Interest not to see a thing so obvious and visible You have not therefore any reason to put the pernicious Doctrines of Popery amongst Wood and Hay and Stubble nor have you any Authority for it I do not know any Text of Scripture which may make you suspect that God is not jealous of seeing you give that Worship to Creatures which is due only to the Creator He hates Idolatry and defines it by giving his Honor to another As I live saith the Lord I will not give my glory to another Now are not Temples Sacrifices Prayers Vows Oaths and Altars the Honors due to God and by consequence they not of the number of those things of which he says I will not give my Glory to another Nevertheless in Popery they are given to the Saints and above all to the Blessed Virgin. You may fairly pluck out your eyes you cannot hinder your selves from seeing it and in what follows we shall have an opportunity to prove it Jesus Christ alone you add will make Separation of this Wood and this Gold the good and the fair Grain shall be separated at the last day but we must let them grew together till then I fear my Brethren that if you go on to blind your selves God will abandon you to your darkness You are strange Commentators on the Gospel Text you ought first to read the Interpretation which the Lord gives of the Parable before you give your own Behold it proceeding out of the Mouth of Jesus Christ He which sowed the good seed is the Son of Man the field is the World the good seed are the children of the Kingdom the Tares are the children of the wicked one The field is the World then 't is not the Church 't is therefore in the World that we ought to tolerate Hereticks and Idolaters and not in the Church But besides know two things 1. That Parables are good Proofs when we don't abuse them but 't is very easie to abuse them when Piety and Religion doth not guide us I compare you to your Converters who at this day press those Words of the Parable of the Marriage Supper so hard Constrain them to come in Behold their Text Let them grow together till the Harvest and then I will separate them behold yours The one and the other is unhappily wrested and turned to another sense because Men will not enter into the Spirit of the Parable which is the only thing essential and to which we must give attention to make a good use of Similitudes It is therefore necessary in the second place that you learn the design and inward meaning of those Words Let them grow together till the Harvest c. 'T is to shew the Patience of God towards the Wicked and not the Patience that we ought to have towards them God represents himself as a Master which hath Right to destroy the World and ruine both good and bad because that the Wicked are infinitely the greater number in the World than the Good. But he will not do it He stays to display his greatest Judgments upon the World till the last day when he will make a Separation of the Good from the Bad therefore he has no design to teach us that we must peaceably suffer Heresies and Idolatries to grow together with the Truth and I can prove it by a hundred Reasons but I will content my self to shew you that these Words Let them grow together c. cannot signifie Let Heresies grow together suffer them and live peaceably in a corrupt Church since the intention of God on the contrary is that with all our Strength we pluck up the Tares out of the Field of the Lord That he hath appointed us to say Anathema to him who shall preach any other thing to us than what hath been preached in the Gospel that we should avoid an Heretick that we should cast the Wicked out from among us that we should go out from Babylon and that we should not drink of the Cup of her Enchantments If the end of the Parable Let them grow together till the Harvest were that which you give to it we should have no right to drive from our Society neither the Vicious nor the Troublers of the Church nor any sort of Criminals A Magistrate might not hang a Murderer nor burn a Sodomite It might be always said unto him Let them grow together till the Harvest I may add to this that by the Tares which grew up with the good Grain we must understand Hypocrites and false Christians Now 't is true that we must have this kind of men and give them up to the judgment of God for he only perfectly knows them and hath the only right to punish them We will answer to the rest of your difficulties in the following Letter The Uniformity of the Persecution is the cause that we have less of History to furnish you withal 'T is always and every where the same Persons are imprisoned others are sent to the Gallies Women are shut up in Cloysters Bodies are drawn on Hurdles and thrown to the Dunghil so that it will be always the same thing there will be nothing but differing Names which may increase the horror which you have for the Persecution as you see the rage of your Persecutors increase for example in that kind of Executions which are made upon the Bodies of those which will not communicate in their last Sickness Was there not something singular in the Cruelty which was exercised on the Body of a Woman about 60 years of Age who died at Soubize the 16th of November in the Year past This Woman was called La Jarnat Widow of one named Rame fell sick about the end of the Month during her Sickness the Curate and the Officers of Justice employed Exhortations Threatnings Kindness and Terrors to obtain of her to communicate against her Conscience i. e. that she would damn her self with all possible care This poor
about these matters I shall not loose my time to recover him from his Wandrings because the Publick never loves Repetitions and besides when a person hath once written things like a man of Honour and Conscience he must leave God to do the rest and ought to be assured that time will always acknowledge and confess true Merit 'T is a long time since it was said concerning the Books of Homer That they would become more valuable every day Posteritate suum crescere sentit opus I am very much mistaken if the contrary be not verified concerning the Works of Soulier But to what purpose is it to offer violence to Nature he was never born to make choice Works Nevertheless he is willing that men should range him amongst illustrious Persons He may pretend to it with as much reason as he has to maintain what he had advanced in his History of Edicts that Cromwell dying in the Month of September 1658 was yet alive in the Month of July 1659 becaucause his Son which Posterity will never know under the name of Cromwell lived then I consent that Posterity acknowledge Soulier for an Author when it shall acknowledge Cromwell the Son under the simple name of Cromwell From Paris the 7th of September 1686. It seems to me that these two Authors Father Mesnier the Jesuit and Monsieur le Ferre are worthy of credit in the present Affair We have therefore affirmed nothing against Soulier the Priest which is not certain he is of base Extraction he came from the Dung-hill he understands neither Greek nor Latine he was a Mechanick he stole some Learning from Father Mesnier and of a Servant is become a Master We have reported this after others without any intent of making an Accusation or Crime thereof On the contrary it would be much to his Reputation and Praise if he had advanced himself by honest ways and methods If could be said he was nothing but has made himself something by his Industry and by the Learning he hath obtained he ought to he commended instead of being blamed for it But we conclude quite otherwise from thence 't is that taking his Original from the Dung-hill and receiving a mean Education he retains the inclinations thereof and is become eminent by surpassing his Masters in Cheats in Iniquities Falshoods and Lies c. On this last point we call his Master Mesnier Witness against him who instructed him in the Profession of bidding Defiance to Honesty and Conscience in favour of the Catholick Church He concludes says Monsieur le Ferre by accusing him of Falshood and Calumnie and as being a person who at most knew no more than to write and read and by sending him to the exercise of his first Trade and Employment Monsieur le Ferre is not content to prove the Falshood of the Priest Soulier by the Authority of Father Mesnier he makes it evident by Instances and Examples which he gives thereof which doth demonstrate that this man is capable of denying the most notorious matters of Fact as is this that the Edict of Nantes was granted by Henry the Fourth to our Fathers as an Acknowledgment of the Services which he had received from them Such is that which he affirms every-where that we have always been the Aggressors in all the Civil Wars such is that which he says That upon all occasions by secret Practises or open Rebellions we have conspired the Ruine of the Monarchy and the Regal Authority To conclude such is that which he maintains That the Massacre of St. Bartholomew was not a contrived business but the Resolution was taken upon the spot and that it was rather an event of Chance or Hazzard than an effect of Deliberation A man may find a hundred passages in this History much more loud and heinous than these which make it appear how much this man is consecrated to Lying and devoted to the Prince of Darkness Therefore nothing hath been affirmed in the History given of his Life but what is true and those two small circumstances concerning the Falshood whereof he makes such Out-cries viz. his Residence in the Street Geures and his Curacie in one of the Lordships of Monsieur de Marillac are not sufficiently important to make thereof an Accusation of Falshood especially when we had been misinformed therein Seeing these are the only things to which he hath thought fit to reply in the Abridgment of his History 't is a proof he hath nothing to say about all the rest which is much more important but this is enough to make known our Accusor let us come now to the Accusations We will follow our Author step by step nevertheless without staying ourselves upon the Impertinencies which he mingles among things which may seem to be of some weight After he hath reported the pretended Act of the Conspiracy of Montpazier he gives the reason why he produced it in his first History without Form and without Subscriptions As I had no design to do wrong to particular persons says he but only to shew what was the Spirit of Calvinism and what it is capable of I suppressed the names of those who Signed this Confederation in my History of Edicts So that 't is out of Charity that Soulier the Priest did suppress the Names of those that Signed this Act This is admirable good Priest Who is there that does not admire his Charity Are not all his Writings full of the Characters of this excellent Vertue 'T is out of Charity that he blew the fire to kindle the Persecution and that he made odious Libels full of Lies against persons that never did him any wrong Observe that the Charity of this good Priest doth not consider that to spare some single persons it neglects what it owed to the King for a man is always obliged to discover Conspirators without having regard to single persons He will not fail to answer to this the King knew the business for he tells us that this Act was given to Monsieur the Cardinal of Bouillion by Monsieur Joly the Bishop of Agen and that Monsieur the Cardinal of Bouillion gave it to the King. This is very well but this is the very thing that makes us suspect his Charity For since the King knew the Names of the Conspirators a man could not do them wrong nor expose them more to the Displeasure of the King his Majesty having not judged it fit to chastise them they had nothing farther to fear by the publication of their Names So that till the Priest Soulier hath given us more valuable proofs of his Charity we will say that the true reason why he gave us this Act without Subscriptions was because he very well foresaw that the Subscriptions would discover the Mystery and the Cheat. It may be that his Monsieur Daret who was not in the World nor never had been and of whom he had never heard any thing spoken did appear to him a person very improper to
profess it But there is in this place one circumstance so evident to convince these Villains of their Knavery that a man cannot escape the sight thereof The Minister Vignier died in the year 1666 as Soulier himself says Why did he when he was about to die give this Act of Montpazier as a thing in trust To what could this Act serve It was seven years since that this pretended Conspiracy with the English was made the Affairs of England had intirely changed their face the King was restored and at War with the Hollanders every one knows he was so far from entring Leagues in favour of the Protestants that on the contrary he rather engaged against them There was not a man living in the World upon whom they could cast their eyes to accomplish the Conspiracy but Cromewell or the Parliamentarians this Piece therefore was absolutely on one hand of no use and on the other hand 't was capable of destroying an infinite number of single persons and the whole intire Body of the Reformed in France Monsieur Vignier therefore when he was dying lost his Understanding and Charity itself to be willing to preserve a Paper which was good for nothing but to destroy his Brethren a Piece which ought to have been burnt and which he should have burnt when he was dying The father we look into this thing the more we find that these Villains were smitten with a Spirit of Blindness in all the circumstances of their Fiction As to the Bishop of Agen he was a Court Bishop which had always a thousand good reasons to continue at Paris about the Affairs of his Diocess I have had a long time in my hands a Letter of Monsieur the Procurator-General who appointed him in the name of the King in a manner very rough and harsh speedily to put an end to his Non residence and to return to his Diocess whither he went very seldom These sort of men are always at watch that they may have something to produce which may make them stay at the Court where they are willing to be that they may be always ready to hunt after a Benefice greater than their own As to Monsieur de Quesne Vicar-General to the Bishop of Condom we know him not he may say true and yet all that we have said receive no blemish nor disadvantage thereby he might really receive the Piece from Mounier a revolted Minister Mounier might be the man that forget it And that which I find most probable is that Soulier and Mounier are the two Authors of it Soulier was at the Synod of Montpazier he rejoyces to produce an Affair which passed there in a Synod where he was Mounier principal Author of the Falshood might furnish the Names he inserted that of Durel as a person proper to Negotiate with the English Soulier who knew not Monsieur Durel reading over the Act forged between them read Daret And 't is probable that 't was he who made him Assistant-Moderator at the foot of the Act for Mounier would never have committed so gross a fault Soulier had a Conference with Monsieur Asimont the Missionaries above all those of the parts and strength of Soulier who knew neither Divinity nor Language receive nothing but confusion from those Conferences and they always carry a mortal hatred against the Ministers that do confound them with design to revenge themselves at any rate Monsieur Asimont had been really Secretary to draw up the Acts of the Synod of Montpazier for which reason this Synod was to be chosen rather than another that the Minister Asimont might be chastised for the trouble which he had put this Missonary to in the Conference This Act was put into the hands of the King the King delivered it to Monsieur Chasteau-neuf Neither the one nor the other made any account of it because Monsieur Chasteau-neuf who had the true Acts of Montpazier saw no conformity betwixt them neither in the Commissary nor in the Assistant besides that the Piece bore many other Characters of Falshood Nevertheless it is kept in the Office as they keep a thousand and a thousand false Pieces in such places For example the Chests of the Evidences of Abbies are inexhaustible Fountains of forged Pieces Monsieur de Launoy hath given us notice thereof some-where on the subject of the Abby of Saint Dennis by reason of the Pieces which Doublet hath produced in his History of Saint Dennis And saving the respect which is due to the King and his Library 't is full of false Manuscripts For example the Jesuite Mesnier the Priest Soulier and Doctor le Feure do say that they have drawn from that Library the Secret Articles of the Edict of 1577 in one of which 't is said The King permits to the Prince of Condy the Exercise of Religion in his House upon the Loire yea although he himself were absent Nevertheless 't is certain that there never was in the House of Monsieur the Prince any Land which bore the name de la Ferte upon Loire and that there is not any City or Village of this name upon the Loire from its Fountain till it enters the Sea. Let this be observed by the by That we may know what account we ought to make of the Manuscripts of the King's Library which Soulier quotes so often Men throw into these Repositories all Pieces that go up and down whether they be true or false the true fifty Years hence will be so confounded with the false that nothing will be certainly known Fifty Years hence the Act of Montpazier well kept in the Office of Monsieur Chasteau-neuf will be as good as if it were true Behold how things go If the Son of the Minister Mounier at present Canon of Tarbies be troubled that we make such a Knave of his Father he ought not to accuse us who do not make men but take them as they are As to the Letter which he hath written for the Justification of his Father 't is evident that 't is worse than nothing in the present Affair his Testimony is of no weight and henceforth 't will be his interest to retract it unless he will have his Father pass for the most profligate of all Men. For if it be true as he would have it be believed that his Father put this Piece into the hands of Monsieur de Quesne 't is unavoidable that he was the Forger of it it being certain as we have proved it that the Piece is false and that he could not receive it from Monsieur Vignier So that 't is no officious Lye in favour of his Father 't is an Act the most wounding to his Reputation that could be produced against him We will stop here because we have impos'd a necessity upon ourselves to speak nothing but of the Act of the Synod of Montpazier for which reason we will not refute all the Calumnies of Soulier nor repel all the Injuries which he speaks in every Page against
not invocate Saints in the three first Ages of the Church I find afterwards the Invocation of Saints about the end of the fourth Age. Is not this to observe the point of its birth what does the name of the first Author signifie in this case Besides superstitious and idolatrous Practices had not one single Author they had many 't is the sottish and ill instructed people who introduce Superstitions and who introduce them insensibly and by little and little But for speculative Heresies 't is the learned which give them birth for which reason 't is easie to mark both their Authors and the precise time of their original Fifthly To conclude I observe in this light which Mr. Nicholas forms to us to make the Church of Rome visible there is no more of sound judgment than of honesty For although even all that he says were solid and his method would prove the Invocation of Saints the Adoration of Reliques Lent c. were Apostolical Traditions this would not prove that which ought to be proved here viz. that the Church of Rome is the only true Church For it must be known that the Greek Church which according to the Papists is schismatical and which a man cannot secure his salvation do also invocate Saints worship Images and observe Lent. 'T is therefore necessary to find in Tradition a proof which makes it evident that the Church of Rome is the true Church with exclusion to all other Sects and this is it which the reasoning of Mr. Nicholas doth not prove neither directly nor indirectly The other Source from whence Mr. Nicholas will draw a light by Tradition to make the Church of Rome visible to the weak is yet more dark and obscure 'T is a ratiocination which supposes 1. That Tradition teaches that there hath been a visible and infallible Church in the World. Tradition doth not teach it and although it should teach it a plain weak man which cannot read the Greek and Latin Fathers the Councils and the Opinions of the Doctors would not be in a condition to assure himself thereof 2. This reasoning supposes in its second Proposition that the Church of Rome is this only visible infallible Church And this is that which must be proved that is that which is obscure and must be made plain to the eyes of the weak Is it not therefore very absurd to pretend to make a light for the weak to render the Roman Church visible of that which is denied and contested by all the World yea although it should be true that there is one visible and infallible Church it would not follow that this were the Church of Rome for three fourth parts of Christians dispute this priviledge with her Mr. Nicholas hath found an admirable secret to draw the weak out of this difficulty It is not needful as he insinuates to make known to the weak that there be other Sects as ancient as the Church of Rome who pretend to be the Church Nothing more is necessary than to make them see the new Sects of Lutherans and Calvinists in opposition to the Church of Rome For they will easily see that this visible Church which ought always to be in the World cannot be that of Luther and Calvin and they will not be so much as tempted to search any other Church but that of Rome I think I have pressed Mr. Nicholas thereon after such a manner as to cover him with a confusion out of which he will never escape For I have made him see that it is properly to cheat the weak to let them believe there is no other Church in the World but the Roman and the Protestant The Protestant Church not having the marks of perpetual visibility since she was not till about two hundred years ago the weak without inquiring further believe that the Roman Church is the only true Church on supposition that she is the only ancient Church Mr. Nicholas confesses that this supposition is false for he acknowledges the Greek Church is as ancient as the Roman But nevertheless according to him 't is expedient to permit the weak to believe this false supposition as if it were true that they be not tempted to search any other Church but the Roman On this matter of fact and about all the rest of the Book against Mr. Nicholas we do declare to him that his silence is look'd upon as a conviction They write that he prepares an Answer to the first Part of the System of the Church where the Nature of the Church is spoken to If it be so we declare to him that that is not the capital Controversie between him and me 'T is about the impossibility of examination of particular Controversies 't is about the Authority of the Church which he ought to answer and to which he will never answer the 2d light which Mr. Nicholas forms to make the Church of Rome visible is drawn from the external marks which make her known for the true Church to the weak and ignorant These external marks according to him may be reduced to two they are Miracles and Sanctity Now this Sanctity and these Miracles which must make the Roma Church visible are either those of the present or those of past Ages Mr. Nicholas searches the visibility of the Church of Rome more in the Miracles of the first Ages than in those of this And behold how he reasons the Church of the two or three first Ages had marks sufficiently evident of the Divine Spirit wherewithal she was animated the miraculous Holiness of her Members and the Miracles which were done there made her sufficiently visible and sufficiently supported her authority If the Church of the three first Ages had this character both of authority and evidence we cannot refuse it to the Church of the fourth Age for 't was the same Church She possessed all the advantages of the three first Ages That is to say her Miracles and her Prodigies of Sanctity which appertained to her by right of succession and she had those which were her own and which were not inferiour to them For she had her Martyrs her Prodigies of Sanctity and her Miracles and these Miracles were done in that same Church where by the confession of the Ministers they prayed to Saints and worshipped Reliques These Prodigies of Sanctity and these Miracles did yet continue in those Ages in which the Ministers do confess that they had Images and believed Transubstantiation For example in the Age of St. Bernard which is the 12th This St. Bernard wrought Miracles and taught all that which is believed in the Church of Rome Follow on from Age to Age and you will come even to the Church of the present Age who hath right to attribute to her self not only the Miracles of the Apostles but all those which have been wrought since and above all those which were done by the Reliques of Saints in the fourth and fifth Ages As the Miracles which St. Austin reports
to have been done by the Reliques of St. Stephen in Africa those of St. Martyn in France and those of the Anacorites in Egypt and Syria Not to enter into a long dispute on the subject of this pretended mark of the Church of Rome I answer three or four things briefly to which I pray give attention 1. That this pretended fountain of light fit and proper to make the Church of Rome visible is not for the simple and unlearned For to see the bottom and solidity thereof they must examine the History of the pretended Miracles which were done in the fourth and fifth Ages They must see what we have said in opposition to it they must examine circumstances and see if there be not reason to believe that all these stories of Miracles are either frauds or fictions They must also examine by History whether these pretended Prodigies of Sanctity be not either Fables or the disorders of sick and melancholick minds They must therefore be able to understand Latin and Greek and to read great and large Volumes To offer this as a light sutable to the capacity of the weak and unlearned is to scoff and deride them 2. I say that the Miracles of the Apostles which are certain and the Prodigies of the Sanctity of the three first Ages does not appertain by right of succession to the Church of the fourth and fifth Age but as far as she inherits the Doctrine of the Apostles These Miracles were good to prove the Divinity of the Christian Religion to Pagans But they are worth nothing to prove Novelties as are the Invocation of Saints and the Worship of Reliques which are purely Pagan Practices With far greater reason the Church of Rome hath no right by succession to the Miracles of the Apostles to prove her Worship her Idolatries and Superstitions We have as much right as she to these Miracles They are truly and properly our Miracles They are good for us all in common against the ungodly and against Infidels to prove that there is one God in three Persons that Jesus Christ is the Messiah and the true Redeemer of the World. But they are nothing to prove our Additions our Corruptions and our Alterations if it be so that either the one or the other of the Christian Sects whether Popery or Calvinism have introduced them into the Church This is clear the Miracles of the Apostles appertain not to us but as far as we have and do inherit their Doctrine 3. As to the Miracles of the fourth and fifth Age which were done in the times when they prayed to Saints and worshipped Reliques we say that they were false Miracles It is to be observed that from the death of the Apostles until the end of the fourth Age nothing was spoken of Miracles in the Church or so little and in so doubtful a manner that it doth not deserve to be reckoned for any thing but when the Devil desired to set up the Worship of Creatures he poured out a Spirit of Lying and a Spirit of Credulity which began to entertain discourses of Miracles 'T is a thing of importance press your Converters thereon Why did these Miracles cease for the space of well nigh two hundred Years or at least why were they so rare And why did they begin again exactly at the time when the Worship of Reliques grew famous Do we not see clearly that 't is a Wile of the Devil Hath God any interest to serve by Bones and Ashes was it necessary that he should begin again to do Miracles at that time And if it were of use to perswade the truth of the Religion which the Martyrs declared to the Pagans why did not God work Miracles by the Bones of the Martyrs for the first three Ages This had been much more profitable than when Paganism was rampant and the Church persecuted and oppressed Wherefore did not the Bones of Polycarpus of whom the believers of Smyrna speak with so much love work miracles Why did not so many Martyrs whose Reliques they had and whose Anniversaries they observed in the time of St. Cyprian work signs and wonders your Converters will never be able to answer this be you therefore perswaded that these pretended Miracles done by the Reliques of St. Stephen St. Gervais St. Protais St. Martyn c. were Illusions of the Devil whom God permitted to work false Miracles or the Cheats of Villains and lewd Superstitionists or to conclude Stories of the Vulgar and Fables which honest men received as Truths upon hear-say And as to the Miracles which are ascribed to the Anacorites of Aegypt and Syria I know not how Mr. Nicholas is not ashamed to draw from them a Light to make his Church visible They are Fables for the most part so gross that the Falseness of them stares in the face of the most Ignorant The Lives of St. Paul the Hermite of Hilarion and others written by St. Jerome that of St. Antony composed as they say by Athanasius are written with so little modesty and judgment that a man ought to be ashamed of them The judicious Readers that would preserve respect for the Authors of those Lives say that the Fathers composed them not as Histories but as pious Romances to divert Christians from reading the Pagan Fables We see in the Lives of those solitary persons of the Desart such as found Centaurs in the Woods Satyrs Men half Horses and half Goats who spake to them and prayed them to intreat the common Saviour to have pitty on them and to give them part in the common Salvation with them We see Hermites-which were in perpetual contests with the Devil always tempted and often beaten by him We see them which herded among the Beasts We there read in one word almost all the Impertinencies of our new Legends This makes it evident that the Fabulous Spirit entred into Christian Religion as soon as the Spirit of Superstition and Idolatry 4ly I say that although it should be true that these Miracles wrought in the Age of the establishment of the Worship of Saints and Reliques should be true Miracles it would not be a Light for the Roman Church any more than for the Greek who also worship Saints and Reliques 'T is therefore needful that we have Miracles from the Church of Rome since she was separate from the Greek Church and that it appear this Gift of Miracles is departed from all other Churches to affix itself to the Church of Rome Now the Greek Schismaticks have their Saints their Legends and their Miracles as well as the Latine Church Besides we do maintain that all the Miracles of the Church of Rome those of St. Bernard as well as others are Legendaries Tales or Illusions of the Evil Spirit 5ly To conclude I do maintain that every person who hath no other support of his Faith but Miracles is a false Believer I have said it elsewhere Miracles are not designed principally to prove Truth they are appointed above
renews his Excommunications the Sword-men take Arms Aelius commands all the Portugese to go out of the Province whereof he was Governour they came to blows The Party of the King and the Jesuits was the stronger Aelius was slain Simeon the Metropolitan was taken whom they beheaded they made a great Butchery among the People but Jamanaxus was pardoned Behold already how much Bloud hath been shed by Popery But things will not continue there The Jesuits and their King puft up with the success of their Victory proceed to a new Reformation The Prince forbad them the observation of the Saturday-Sabbath and commanded that they should labour on that day upon the penalty of confiscating their Goods for the second Offence 'T is indeed an affair sufficiently small about which it were very possible to have given a tolleration but Popery understands not the meaning of that word they severely chastised for an Example one named Buc a person very eminent in the Kingdom for his Military Employments This new severity gave occasion of a revolt to one named Jonael Vice-Roy of Bageindra All the Court the women and the Favourites interposed in this affair a little to soften and bend the Spirit of the King but the Jesuits prevailed upon him He would not comply with their Perswasions So they came a second time to war Jonael was beaten many times and withdrew from the Kingdom This did not affright others Those of the Province of Damos took Arms for the ancient Religion The Hermites which are there in great abundance were willing to signalize themselves in this Holy War. Nevertheless their Party was beaten but there was great effusion of Bloud on both sides Behold the ordinary Methods by which Popery arrives at Empire After these repeated Victories which cost the King of Aethiopia great part of his Subjects he accomplished his design The Jesuites by his Authority intirely overturned the Religion and Church of the Abyssines all gave way either to seduction or violence They swore Fidelity and Obedience to Urban the Eighth the Pope sent there a Roman Patriarch all those who would not obey were severely chastised The new Patriarch passed through the Kingdom baptizing and confirming an infinite number of persons They established Seminaries of the Children of the Abyssines and Portuguese In one word Popery by its ordinary ways which are violence and the sword became master of all Abyssinia One named Tecla Georgius another Son-in-law of the King put himself at the head of the Malecontents which were in great number but the fortune of the Jesuites did yet accompany the King in this Affair Tecla Georgius was slain and his Sister hanged on a Tree because she had spoken a little too freely against the Rites of the Latine Church The Patriarch Alphonsus Mendez a Jesuit knew not how to use his good Fortune but believing that henceforward he might abandon himself without constraint to that spirit of Tyranny which hath its seat at Rome ill intreated all the great Men of the Court excommunicated the prime Officers of the Kingdom for things which were not Ecclesiastical he domineer'd over all with so much insolence that at length the King himself and all the Courtiers opened their eyes upon the conduct of these new Tyrants Rebellions were renewed in most part of the Provinces Battels were fought and blood spilt under the Authority of the King who was still abused by Popery But a certain person called Ras Seelax a great Favourite of the King 's and a great Protecter of Popery having lost his Reputation the Affairs of the Jesuites and Popery sunk and fell into decay thereby The King being tired by the Troubles which these new Evangelists brought to him every day by their Rigours and seeing that the Hydra of Rebellion after it lost one head found a hundred began very much to abate of his rigour and granted liberty to whosoever would use it to preserve and observe the ancient Religion This goodness of the Prince which agreed very well with natural Equity displeased these imperious Masters they made violent opposition thereunto but favour continued no longer on their side the same Prince which had abolished the ancient Religion doth re-establish it or rather permits that it should be re-established after ten or twelve years interruption Susneus dies a little while after This Protector of the Religion newly established being dead Popery tumbled with haste and violence towards ruine They repaid to the Jesuites the cruelty they had used they took away their Churches and Goods and drove them out of the Kingdom They tried all ways they set their Friends and Creatures on work they intreated they desired the help of Arms and Souldiers from Goa for their Defence but all to no purpose The Patriarch Alphonsus Mendez was put into the hands of the Turks from whence he was redeemed with Money but his Companions the Jesuites Almeyda Father Hyacynthus Lewis Cardyra and many others were hanged as Disturbers of the publick Peace The Congregation for the Propagation of Faith were willing to attempt the Recovery of this brave Kingdom which they had lost they send six Capuchines to try if they could pass once again into Aethiopia but two of them died by the hand of the Cafres two were stoned in Aethiopia the other two returned without doing any thing In conclusion three other Capuchines were willing to make another attempt they came ashore at Suaquene a Port of the Red-sea possessed by the Turks from thence they wrote to the King of Aethiopia as if it had been a thing grateful to him that they were there ready to pass into his Country as soon as he should furnish them with necessary Accommodations For answer Basilides who was then King of Aethiopia after his Father Susneus writ to the Turkish Bassa who commanded the place that he would do him the kindness to send him the Heads of those three Franks This was done they cut off their heads they flead off their skins which they filled with Hay and sent them to Basilides So these poor miserable Wretches bore the punishment of all the Blood which the Jesuites and Popery had shed in the Kingdom of the Abyssines This History as it seems to me is very proper to shew that in all places as well as in all Ages the spirit of Popery is the occasion of Trouble Confusion Tyranny and Persecution and God did permit that Popery should prosecute its usual methods in Aethiopia as elsewhere to hinder the Abyssine Church from continuing under the Papal Tyranny For if these Emissaries of the Court of Rome had proceeded with more Moderation and spared Blood and offered no Violence to the Consciences of men without doubt Popery had this day been regnant among the Abyssines The Liberty of the Reformed Churches of Hungary was established upon very good Foundations the Kings of that Country had granted to the Protestants divers Declarations by which the exercise of the Reformed Religion was permitted in all places On
those that were baptised both before their Baptism and it may be after But it is ridiculous to make a Sacrament of this Imposition of Hands Concerning which my Brethren you ought to know 1. That Imposition of Hands is a Ceremony descended from the Jews our Lord approved and practised it for which reason he laid hands on all the Children they brought to him when he blessed them 2. You ought to be advertised that Imposition of Hands was an Appendage of Prayer and that they served themselves of that Ceremony as often as they would implore the extraordinary assistance of God upon any one When any one was sick they prayed and laid their hands on them When any one was reconciled to the Church they begged of God pardon of sins for him laying their hands on him When any one was admitted to a publick Office they prayed to obtain that assistance that was necessary for him and laid on him their hands When they sent any one upon a difficult Commission they laid hands on him and prayed as may be seen in Acts 13. The fathers after they had fasted and prayed laid hands on Paul and Barnabas to the end they might go preach the Gospel amongst the Gentiles They were already Presbyters and had received Mission from God and the Church When they married they received also Prayer and the Benediction of the Church with Imposition of Hands annex'd unto it 'T is a prodigious Blindness to make of these differing Impositions of Hands so many Sacraments I should as soon chuse or rather sooner chuse to make of these differing Prayers which were made on sundry occasions so many Sacraments For 't is certain that Prayer over the baptised the penitent the sick those that took Office those that were sent on Commission those that were married was the chief of the Action and Imposition of Hands was but a decent Gesture and a Rite which signified that they desired the Grace of God and his assistance on the person that was concerned therein 'T is a pityful thing that Men lay hold alway on the Skin and meddle not with the Marrow and if the principal Action be accompanied with some little Ceremony which is but accessory the love of that which is external and easie to practise presently changes the principal into accessory and the accessory into principal Bowing the Knee and Imposition of Hands are two Rites of the same kind and of the same necessity To bend the Knee and lift up the Hands have been two signs which almost always accompanied Prayer the first signifies the Humiliation of the Spirit the second the Elevation of the Heart and when this Elevation of the Hands is made on the Head of any one 't is to signifie that the Heart lifts up it self according to the desire and intention of him over whom they lift up their hands Behold the whole Mystery of this Ceremony whereof they have made four or five Sacraments And 't is the first original of the Sacrament of Confirmation of Penance of Marriage of Orders and of Extreme Unction If the Humor of Popery and Superstition had turn'd on the other hand we had had it may be fourteen Sacraments instead of seven For of the Genuflection which is made in praying for the whole and sound of that which is made in praying for the sick for hardened Sinners and for those that are penitent c. Of these Genuflections say I they might have made as many Sacraments with as much reason as they have made five Sacraments of the five Orders of Prayers to which Imposition of Hands has been annexed Let this serve my Brethren to make you understand that nothing is more absurd that to make a Sacrament of Confirmation because in the first and second Age they laid hands on those which had been baptised The Apostles practised it also because they had power to obtain the miraculous Gifts of the Holy Ghost for those which had received Baptism The Bishops affirming themselves Succession of the Apostles appropriated to themselves afterward a Ceremony which became vain and empty because they had not the power to cause the Holy Ghost to descend upon those on whom they laid hands Jesus Christ laid hands not only on Children brought to him but also on the sick as it appears in the Gospel of S. Mark * Mark 6.5.8.13 and that of S. Luke †Luke 4.40 When he healed the Woman that had been bowed together during the space of eighteen years he also ‖ Luke 13.13 laid his Hands upon her When * Act. 9.17 Ananias would give sight to Saul he laid his hands on him When S. Paul would heal the Father of Publius Prince of Malta of his Fever and Bloody Flux he laid his hands on him To conclude a Man must have a Spirit prejudiced beyond all that can be imagined not to see that Imposition of Hands is a simple Ceremony annexed to Prayer Concerning Extreme Unction i. e. the Ceremony of anointing the dying to obtain for them Vigor and Strength necessary to overcome death 't is that whereof there is not found the least footstep in all the Authors of this second Age. We do not doubt at all but that they did serve themselves of that Unction of which the Evangelist and Apostle speak an Unction wherewith they served themselves for the miraculous Cure of Diseases As in the second and third Ages there continued in the Church some Remainders of the Gift of Healing they might also serve themselves with the Ceremony of Unction But boldly defie your Converters to shew you any Example of a Man dying that was anointed with Oil in the second Age with this intent to make the passage of death more easie to him Press them with the same confidence about their other false Sacraments Orders Penance and Marriage and oblige them to shew you by antiquity in the second Age that the Doctors of the Church did regard them as Sacraments Purgatory in Popery is a Foundation upon which they build an infinite number of idolatrous and superstitious Worships for which reason 't is of importance to see what Men believed of it in the second Age of the Church The State of Souls after death hath always been an Abyss in which Men have seen nothing without Revelation And for that reason the Pagans fell in this regard into prodigious Errors and the Jews before our Saviour floated about in great Uncertainties The Primitive Christians fell close to that which our Lord said to the good Thief This day shalt thou be with me in paradise To that which S. Paul had taught 1 Cor. 5. Phil. 1. That if our earthly house of this tabernacle c. And that when we depart from hence we shall be with Christ Jesus To that which the Holy Spirit hath said in the Revelations that those which die in the Lord are happy and their works follow them About the middle of the second Age a Christian apparently come over
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