separate a stream from the Channel says he 'T is true the Channel remains in the Church of Rome we agree with them in that from the first Bishop of Rome to the last we see no considerable interruption either History is not to be credited or Bishops have succeeded one to another Behold the Channel mark'd and noted But by misfortune they have separated the River from the Channel and in this Succession of Bishops there has succeeded a dirty and impoisoned River to pure water and to a clean and clear River Monsieur de Meaux is very happy therefore in his comparison in this small Paragraph but he is not so altogethet in that which follows And to vaunt says he themselves of the understanding of the Scripture when they acknowledge they have lost the stream of Tradition in their Pastors is to vaunt of having preserved the Waters after the Pipes are broken Surely if the Waters were no where but in the Channel Monsieur de Meaux and his Brethren had some reason on their side but 't is happy for us and mischievous to them that the Water is in the Fountain before it can be in the Channel The Channels may be broken the Bishops Successors of Seats may become Antichristian The Fountain of the Gospel-Doctrine continues always pure in the Holy Scripture It had been very fine if they had reason'd so at the time when Jesus Christ came into the World. The Pharisees and Doctors of the Law were in Moses's Chair and as such Jesus Christ commanded to hear them but according to the new Philosophy of our Doctors our Lord should have done otherwise for instead of thundering against the vain Ceremonies and false Glosses of these Doctors which corrupted the Law he ought to have followed them and caused his Disciples to do so to For to boast of understanding the Scripture when they acknowledge they have lost the stream of Tradition in their Pastors is to vaunt of having preserved the Waters after the Pipes are broken The Pipes that is the Doctors were broken but did not the purity of the Law remain in the Books of Moses as in his Fountain Let that be remembred therefore and never be forgotten The Gospel-Church in this regard is in no better condition than the ancient Synagogue This had its Pharisees and false Priests in the Chair of Moses that hath its false Bishops in the Chair of the Apostles and Founders of Christianity Let it be remembred also that when the Pipes are broken and the Rivers corrupt we have the Fountain Jesus Christ had recourse thither he said From the beginning it was not so Frankly therefore 't is to delude and ridiculously to delude when they speak of a Succession of Chairs at least unless it be proved that Truth hath remained in them and that Infallibility hath always been placed there and that in matters of Doctrine there have been made no Innovation And thither Monsieur de Meaux comes at last The Doctrine and understanding of Scriptures says he is come even to him without any change or alteration And it has been the pleasure of God that it should come to us from Pastor to Pastor and from hand to hand without any appearance of Innovation This is easily said but I do not understand how persons that write in an Age so knowing and illuminated as ours is should have the impudence to advance such a thing that since S. Paul to the Bishop of Meaux the Doctrine is come down without any Innovation My Brethren 't is an important point 't is an Article about which they do miserably blind you 't is a voice that founds perpetually in your ears and does almost make you deaf Antiquity Tradition constant Succession and Perpetuity of Faith and how do they prove it to you They tell you the Church is infallible therefore it can't err nor turn aside from sound Doctrine Secondly Monsieur de Meaux tells you If there had been such changes among us the Authors thereof would have been named the Spirit of Truth which is in the Church would have noted them and their Names would have been infamous as that of the Arrians and Nestorians c. So that all which has been told us concerning insensible changes in Doctrine whereof they do not produce any example in the Christian Church is nothing but a vain accusation Thirdly To conclude they take up certain Shreds of the Fathers which they set to be seen with Glosses and in a false light and afterwards tell you boldly behold the Conformity of the Fathers with us behold the Succession of the same Opinions in the same Seats There has happened no change or alteration This say I deserves that we stay on it a little for 't is the fountain of Illusions by which they have seduced and made some new Converts Concerning the first of these three Proofs which is drawn from the Infallibility of the Church we hope at some time to shew you the absurdity of that pretension We will prove that all that which M. Nicholas and M. Pelisson have advanced to prove the necessity of this infallible Authority without which according to them truth cannot be found is a Contexture of Fallacies which lead Men directly to impiety But in expectation thereof my dear Brethren we intreat you to give attention to what we are about to say concerning this sovereign and infallible Authority of the Church of Rome I will give you two general methods by which without any great difficulty you may be able to quit your selves of the Fallacies of your Converters First tell me is there any reason can hold good against experience The Church of Rome can't err I 'll prove it say they by just proofs and demonstrations because the Church can't be left without a Guide because private and particular persons can't understand the Scriptures because there is a necessity that an Interpreter which ought to guide others cannot himself be deceived Behold that which is the most stately and magnificent reasoning in the world But by blowing upon these pompous Reasons of Right I will make them vanish by one sole Proof and Demonstration of Fact. 'T is that the Roman Church hath erred an hundred times by introducing Images into Churches and establishing the Invocation of Saints in taking the Cup from the Laity and in causing a Sacrament to be adored c. Call to mind my Brethren the Man to whom the Philosopher proved by subtleties which he could not answer that there was no such thing as motion After having long labored under the weight of his Fallacies he rose up briskly and walkd about the Room You find your selves often perplexed with the Sophisms invented to support the ways of Prescription and to prove the blind submission which ought to be had for the Church of Rome I do not doubt but you are oftentimes in some perplexity in this respect But go briskly out of that perplexity and always come to this The Church of Rome
that though even the Church should fall into Idolatry we cannot be saved if we separate from it And I say although even the Church of Rome should have Reason at the bottom and were not Idolatrous and that we were out in our Separation we should not hazard our Salvation by continuing as we are Men are every where well where they have Christianity and the marrow and substance of it and 't is a folly to imagine that the Salvation of men depends upon the humor of their Guides It may be therefore that Luther and Calvin were mistaken i. e. That the corruption of the Church of Rome was not great enough to oblige the Faithful to go out of her let us suppose they had done better to leave things as they were I do nevertheless maintain that at this day you do not in any wise hazard your Salvation by continuing where they have placed you because however it be you have Christianity in its integrity you have it wholly pure and uncorrupt In every Society where that is found a man may be saved after whatsoever manner it be formed The Idea which men have formed of Schism for many Ages past is the most false that can be imagined but besides the falshood of it 't is the most dangerous and cruel Chimera that could be found Every Society would be Catholick Church to the exclusion of all others The Church of Rome pretends thus far for her self The Greek Church makes no less pretence thereto He that goes out of this Church breaks the Unity and he that breaks it is no longer in the Church Now he who is no longer in the Church is no longer in a state and way of Salvation whatever he say and whatever he do Behold what they say behold the Chimera We must therefore rectifie this Idea of Schism according to the Unity which we have given you The Unity of the Universal Church does not subsist within the bounds of one certain Communion nor in adherence to certain Pastors to the exclusion of all others but in the Unity of Spirit Doctrine Sacraments and Evangelical Ministry in general i. e. of Pastors declaring the Truth of the Gospel What must be done then to make a Schism with respect to the Church Universal He must renounce the Christian Doctrine the Sacraments of the Church and the Gospel Ministry that is to say He must be an Apostate or an Heretick But every Society that goes out of another and greater Society of which it was a part makes no Schism with respect to the Church Universal whilst it retains the Doctrine the Sacraments and the Ministry of the Gospel it goes not out of the Church because it carries the Church with it and it carries the Church with it because it carries Christianity with it It carries say I the Church with it in such a manner nevertheless that it leaves it in the Society which it leaves for leaving true Christianity there it leaves the true Church there also And the advantage of being the Church and of having Christianity is a Privilege which may be possessed intire and without prejudice to other Christian Societies We must therefore know that there is an Vniversal and Particular Schism Particular Schism is a Separation from a particular Church a Universal Schism is a Separation from the Universal Church Universal Schism consists in the Renunciation of the Universal Church by renouncing her Doctrine Sacraments and Ministry For example If the one half of Christians should separate from the other and set up a new Gospel according to which Moses should be set side by side with Jesus Christ the legal Ceremonies re-established the Evangelical Ministry should be changed into the Ministry of Priests after the Order of Aaron the Sacraments of the Church should be joyned to the Sacraments of the Old Testament it were certain that this would be a true Schism for these Men would renounce the Doctrine the Sacraments and the Ministry of the Gospel The Mahometans without renouncing Jesus Christ and calling him false Prophet have set up a Prophet superior to him and receive the Impostures of Mahomet admit Circumcision and reject Baptism have made a Religion truly and essentially different from that of Christ's 'T is therefore a true universal Schism The Socinians who have renounced almost all the Fundamentals of the Christian Religion who despise and neglect the Sacraments by going out of the Church are become Schismaticks and true Schismaticks with respect to the Church Universal for they have not carried the Church with them because they have not carried Christianity with them According to this Idea Universal Schism or Schism with respect to the Universal Church doth not essentially differ from Heresie and Apostacy Particular Schism is when a Man separates from a particular Church be it for some Point of Doctrine be it for some quarrel about Discipline be it for some personal Differences of the Guides among themselves Of this sort of Schisms there is an infinite number of Examples In the Second Age there was a Schism between the Church of Rome and the Church of Asia about a controversie of Ceremonies about the day on which Easter ought to be observed The Churches of Asia maintained that the Christian Passover ought to be observed on the same day that the Jews observed theirs and they said they held it as a Tradition from St. John. The Church of Rome on the contrary said that Christians ought to observe Easter on the Lord's-day following the Jewish Passover And for the sake of this goodly Controversie Victor Bishop of Rome was so rash as to separate the Churches of Asia from his Communion This Schism continued not only until the Council of Nice but a very long time after for mention is made of the Quartodecimani in the General Council of Ephesus against Nestorius in the year 431. So they called those who celebrated Easter with the Jews on the 14th day of the Month of March. In the Third Age Novatian formed a considerable Schism about a Point of Discipline viz. Whether we ought to receive those who fell in times of Persecution to the Peace of the Church This Schism continued a long time We find this Schism continuing amidst all the great troubles that were betwixt the Arrians and the Orthodox the union of Opinions that was between the Novatians and the Catholicks with respect to the Doctrine of Arrius did not put a period unto it In the same Age the Donatists made another Schism in Africa about the choice of a Bishop of Carthage Two Parties being formed about it a Division was made it spread through all Africa and continued many Ages There happened another in the beginning of the Fifth Age by one named Nestorius Bishop of Constantinople who taught there were two Persons as well as two Natures in Christ Another was made a little while after by Eutyches Abbot of a Monastery in Constantinople who desiring to oppose Nestorius who distinguished two Persons
lye about the Ages past when they speak to you of Tradition and of things said and done a thousand and twelve hundred years agone when they have no regard to present Truths in matters of Fact whereof there are as many Witnesses almost as there are persons alive in this part of the World. In the name of God think of it when they forbid you all tryal and examination of Doctrines and tell you that you must believe the Church that is to say false Teachers which affirm that you must believe things without taking any knowledge of them See I say whether there be any confidence or trust to be put in such men which have consecrated themselves to Lying and have renounced all modesty and shame The Bishop of Meaux hath heard all the Bishops say that no violence was used in their Diocesses We ought to understand how these Gentlemen do define Violence and what 't is they call Torments Among the Bishops he of Autun will find difficulty to say so and Monsieur de Meaux that those of his Diocess had not so much as heard of Torments He went accompanied with the Hangman to Madam de S. Andrew Montbrun Widow of a famous General which had the Honor to command in chief the Armies of the King and those of the Venetians with a great deal of Glory This Bishop I say with the Missionaries accompanied with the chief Magistrate and the Magistrate taking two or three Hangmen with all the Instruments of Torture went thus to endeavour her Conversion If this be false they will do well to convince the Men and Officers of her House which have seen said it and writ it But the Bishop of Meaux hath done nothing nor seen nothing of like nature in his Diocess We have good testimony that violence hath been committed there as well as elsewhere But altho what he says should be true behold a great marvel whereof he hath great reason to rejoice Paris and the Country round about it were last of all attacked All France had been covered with Fear Tears and Blood. Paris and the Brie saw nothing round about but bloody Troops and Emissaries loaden with the Spoils of the Reformed and red with their Blood. 'T is a great Miracle that these Objects without drawing nearer have anquished and overcome them As if the fear of an Evil which one sees within four steps of him were not as capable of doing violence to the mind as the Evils which are felt immediately On the contrary a person has fallen under fear which hath resisted pain and torment The Dragoons of Bearn of Guienne of Poictou of Languedoc of Normandy had laboured for the Bishop of Meaux After that let him glory if he can of the Facility of Conversions But I am weary of confuting these impudent Boldnesses by matters of fact which our Persecutors dispute and by Witnesses which they reproach Let us see if Monsieur de Meaux will reproach and object against himself He wrote his Pastoral Letter in the Month of April last a little before Easter to invite and prepare the new Converts for the approaching Communion 'T is precisely on the same time that he wrote to one of his Diocess which was fled the Letter following From Meaux April 3 1686. MONSIEUR I Continue to write to you notwithstanding the Answer you made to my former Letter I have there observed a Character and Style too much of a Minister to attribute it to you In a word I apprehend that it does not proceed from a Spirit such as yours But altho it be so I shall not cease to invite you to return I have seen in a Letter which you wrote to Mademoiselle of U. that the true Church does not persecute What understand you by that Sir Do you understand that the Church by her self never makes use of force That is very true since the Church hath no other Arms but spiritual Do you understand that Princes which are Sons of the Church never ought to make use of the Sword which God hath put into their hands to abase the Enemies thereof Do you dare to say contrary to the opinion of your own Doctors who have maintained by so many Writings that the Republick of Geneva had power and right to condemn Servetus to the Fire for denying the Divinity of the Son of God. And without serving my self of the Examples and Authority of your Doctors tell me in what Text of Scripture Hereticks and Schismaticks are excepted from the number of those Malefactors against which S. Paul says God hath armed Kings and Princes And altho you will not permit Christian Princes to take vengeance of such great Crimes because they are injurious to God can they not take vengeance on them because they cause trouble and sedition in States Do you not see clearly that you build upon a false Principle And if it were true they were the Arrians Nestorians and Pelagians which had reason of complaint against the Church since it was they that were the persecuted and banished and Catholick Princes those that persecuted and banished them And at present also the Catholicks which are punished with death in Sueden and so many other Kingdoms would have reason to complain of those that are called the Reformed and every one in his turn would have right and wrong right in one place and wrong in another and Religion would depend altogether upon uncertainties But this is enough on this Subject to convince so good a Spirit as yours Only know that when it pleases God to abandon us to our own thoughts and imaginations the best Spirits are touched and affected by the least appearances The fear that you have that they will make you adore Bread hath much appearance of truth through your prejudice and prepossession Consider in the mean time without entring into that Controversie which passes the Bounds of a Letter consider I say that it was a fear of like nature which made the Arrians and Disciples of Paulus Samosatenus that they would not give divine Honors to a Man an Infant a Creature how perfect and how great soever his privileges might be 'T was human reason 't was sense 't was prejudice which inspired them with these vain fears Take heed lest your Religion after their example do not too much call in Reason and human Sense to its succour and that your trouble and difficulty do not proceed from the custom of following them However it be you see that your Reformers have done nothing else but renew Controversies ended six hundred years ago when Berengarius moved them And if you call in doubt the Judgment which was given against him others will doubt with as much reason concerning all preceding Councils and then behold us under an obligation to examine anew all that hath been decreed as if we began to be Christians and all that our Fathers had resolved serve for nothing In one word the meaning is if Christians when they are not of an
of the Sun as they suppose in producing those words this is my body our fear would have no foundation To defend us against this prejudice Monsieur de Meaux produces the false fear of the Arrians and the Disciples of Paulus Samosatenus who feared lest they should be made to worship a Man an Infant a Creature however perfect and highly priviledged he were Let not Monsieur de Meaux be displeased behold a shred of Antiquity ill placed and disposed for a person that prides himself of knowledg It supposes that the Arrians and Samosatenians have heretofore refused to adore Jesus Christ under pretence that he was a Creature a Man an Infant just as we refuse at this day to adore the Sacrament under pretence that it is but Bread. I would be very glad that he would a little shew us those places in the Ancients where the Arrians refused to adore Jesus Christ because he was nothing else but Man. First of all they did not say he was a mere Man they acknowledged he was God of God and Light of Light and that he was before Abraham but they said he was a God created before all Ages and afterwards incarnate And as for the adoration they so little refused to give it to Jesus Christ that all the Fathers made it their Crime and convinced them of Idolatry because supposing Jesus Christ was a Creature they nevertheless adored him It is good my Brethren that you observe this passage and that you conclude that these-Gentlemen know not how to quote the Ancients without impressing some footsteps of their falsness and perfidiousness on those quotations They ought to find an example about vain fear in Antiquity like unto ours they can find none and therefore it is expedient to make one But although it were true that the Arrians did refuse to adore Jesus Christ for fear that they should adore a Man an Infant they had been mistaken and we shall have reason to be unwilling to adore the Sacrament for fear of adoring Bread. For the Orthodox did invincibly prove to the Arrians that this Man was the Eternal Son of God but the Papists will never prove that the Sacrament is the true Body of Jesus Christ Your Reformers have done nothing but renew the Controversies ended six hundred years since when Berengarius moved them And if you call in doubt the judgment that was given against him others with as much reason will doubt concerning preceding Councils and behold us then obliged to examine anew all which hath been Decreed as if we began to be Christians and that all that our Fathers have determined is good for nothing It is not true that we have done nothing else but renew Controversies ended six hundred years ago We acknowledge no Authority in an Antichristian Church such was that in which Berengarius lived to determine Controversies It hath no right to determine them or at least we have right to have no regard to her decisions It is precisely that which our Arrians do now at this day say unto us your Divines and Schoolmen have done nothing else but renew Controversies already determined more than twelve hundred years ago in the Councils of Tyre Jerusalem Millan and Ariminum The date is a little older and the Authority in my opinion a little greater For the Church of the Arrians was much more pure than that of the Man of Sin. It had been a great marvel if Monsieur de Meaux had neglected to bring into this short Letter the Sophisms about the Judge of Controversies These Gentlemen have nothing else to say it is their only Rampart it is necessary they always return thither If it be permitted us to reject the Councils that have condemned Berengarius behold us under a necessity to examine anew all the Councils which have decided the Controversies against the Arrians Nestorians c. This signifies nothing neither according to my Principles nor those of Monsieur de Meaux Hath Monsieur de Meaux forgotten that according to his Principles no Councils are infallible but those that are General Wherefore then doth he demand the same submission for the Councils that condemned Berengarius as for those that condemned Arrius Nestorius and Eutyches These last are considered as Oeconomical and by consequence as Infallible in the Church of Rome But a Council of Tours of Verseille a Council of Rome which have condemned Berengarius were but particular Councils Therefore they were not Infallible Some of them had the Pope for their Head yea but according to Monsieur de Meaux a great friend of the Theology of the Gallican Church the Pope is not Infallible nor can he communicate it to any one Let these Gentlemen fix their Principles or let them not delude us by comparing Councils which can err to Councils which according to them are Infallible and cannot be mistaken If this be worth nothing according to the Principles of Monsieur de Meaux it is worth less according to mine These Gentlemen will not take it amiss if we have mote veneration for Councils held in the fourth Age where they judged by the word of God than for Councils of the eleventh Age held in a time in which the Church was plunged into an abyss of Corruption according to the confession of Baronius and others like unto him Therefore one may doubt of the truth of decisions of the Councils of that Age and not doubt of those of all the preceding Councils But because we are willing to have some submission for the decisions of the Councils of the fourth Age must we therefore pluck out our Eyes Must we cease to see that they did decide conformably to the Scripture Must we cease to build the submission that we have for Councils principally upon the conformity of their decisions with the Holy Scriptures Behold us obliged to examine all anew as if we began to be Christians Behold us obliged to examine all anew yea every one for himself And does not every one of us begin to be Christian when he begins to live and to make use of his reason Monsieur de Meaux is at agreement that when a Man begins to be a Christian he has right to examine Societies and Confederate Churches do not always begin to be Christians and therefore it is not always necessary that they examine And when once they have formed their Confessions upon the word of God it is not necessary that they repeat it at least unless it be made appear that they have erred and be mistaken But every particular person begins to be a Christian he hath therefore right to examine And so behold the right of single persons re established by the reasoning of Monsieur de Meaux We will not touch the rest of the private Letter of Monsieur de Meaux at this time because what he adds concerning the Judge of Controversies and the reflections which we have to make thereon will fall in very well with what follows in his Pastoral Letter
greater Absurdity than to answer by that which has been under dispute It is not true that Rome is the Chair of S. Peter we shall it may be have occasion to prove it to you in some other place But although it should be true where is it said that the Priviledg of Unity ought to be affixed to the Chair of S. Peter The Pope of Constantinople says I am in the Chair of S. Andrew who was an Apostle The Pope of Antioch says 'T is I who am in the true Chair of St. Peter for according to Tradition St. Peter was seven years Bishop of Antioch before he was Bishop of Rome so that it is the first Chair sounded by the chief of the Apostles The Pope of Alexandria saith I am in the Chair of St. Mark who was an Evangelist and had the Spirit of Infallibility as well as St. Peter Behold three Popes against one three Churches against one three Apostles or Evangelists against one wherefore then Gentlemen Converters would you that I should esteem you as only in the rightful possession of Unity to the prejudice of Persons which pretend to have as good a Title to it as your selves Press these false Babylonish Teachers on this point and you will see such confusion and such a multitude of Words in their Discourse which will discover to you the falseness of their pretensions After this we will consider the Proposition in it self The Vnion that is necessary to Salvation is included in the Church of Rome alone out of it there is neither Salvation Faith Grace Remission of Sins nor the True Church so that every man which is separate from it by Schism alone without Heresie dies eternally I do maintain That this Proposition is the most foolish but withal the most cruel and barbarous that ever was asserted and I do beseech you my Brethren to be attentive to the proofs that I shall make thereof First According to the Scripture Fathers and Evidence of Reason the Unity of the Church ought to contain Universality in it self that is to say That Church which is One ought to be universal and extended through all the World it ought to comprehend all Christians I will not prove this for it 's clear and also confessed 't is a truth so known among the Ancients that they look on certain Schismaticks of the fourth and fifth Age called Donatists as Fools These People in the beginning of the fourth Age separated themselves from the rest of the Church of Carthage and all Africa this Separation was caused by the Election of a Bishop of Carthage This hath always been one of the most fruitful Sources of Division These Donatists said precisely that which the Church of Rome says at this day * Aug. de Agone Christi Cap. 28. All the Church is fall'n into Apostasie and is only preserved in the Communion of Donatus upon which St. Augustine thus cries out Oh proud and wicked Tongue Certain other Schismaticks called Luciferians fell into the same dotage That the Church was perished and continued not but in Sardinia and some Mountains near Rome where they had Followers and Disciples St. Jerome treats them on that Subject as men that had lost their Understanding †Jerome Dialog adv Lucifer If it be so says he Jesus Christ died only for the Peasants of Sardinia Where then is the accomplishment of that word of the Father Ask of me and I will give thee the Heathen for thine Inheritance Behold exactly the folly of the Papists the Church is perish'd throughout the World except at Rome and in the West but we with the Scriptures and the Fathers say Let the North give up and let not the South keep back All the parts of the World shall bring forth Children to God and the Church ought to be extended to all places where the Gospel is Now the Church of Rome is not at Constantinople nor in Muscovy Asia Egypt Africa or Ethiopia where nevertheless there are multitudes of Christians it is not in England Holland Sweden Denmark nor in a great part of Germany The Church of Rome reacheth not to all the Countries and Kingdoms for 't is ridiculous to say that 't is dispersed throughout the World because there are some Jesuits at London in the Low Countries Sweden Constantinople and in the East and some Latines hid here and there where they have small Congregations but little known and as it were under ground I might as well say that Calvinism is extended through all Italy because there are some of the Reformed scatter'd here and there in it Secondly According to the Hypothesis of the Church of Rome every one that errs though never so little that is to say who goes off from that which the Romanists determine is out of the Unity of the Church and without hopes of Salvation Behold how ill this agrees with that notable Passage whereof those of ours that are weak and fearful make great use 't is that of St. Paul 1 Cor. iii. 11. where the Apostle says For other Foundation can no man lay than that is laid which is Jesus Christ Now if any man build upon this Foundation Gold Silver precious Stones Wood Hay Stubble every mans work shall be made manifest c. and the fire shall try every mans work c. And if any mans work be burnt he shall suffer loss but he himself shall be saved Without taking notice of what may be difficult in this Passage 't is clear That those which build are Teachers that the Gold Silver and precious Stones are sound Doctrines that the Wood Hay and Stubble are such as are unsound and false 't is also clear that they which teach these false Doctrines may be saved and with greater reason they which are seduced by them It follows not from thence as our perverted People pretend that a person may be saved in the practice of that Worship which ruines the Foundation as they do in the Church of Rome but it follows at least that a person may be saved that teaches Doctrines opposite to Truth provided that they subvert not the Foundation and by consequence the Church of Rome is ridiculous as well as cruel to damn all those which are out of her Communion for Errors that are light and trifling for having pronounced Anathema against those which deny for example that Infants dying without Baptism are damned Mr. Nicholas makes no difficulty to condemn all those which do not believe the sovereign and absolute necessity of Baptism Thirdly We have a third proof of the falseness of this Pretence that the Roman Church is in possession of that Unity out of which there is no Salvation in this That God preserves the Ministry of his Word in many Places and in many Churches which do not submit to the Latin Church The Word of God never returns without effect The Wisdom of God will not permit that he should preserve the Ministry in places where there are none but
and I will leave them in their Retirement very peaceably provided they put themselves into a state of Inaction as well in respect to us as to God but if they continue to trouble us the Dispute may have an Issue which will not turn to their honor This Digression which hath been longer than I could have wished will be the cause that we cannot proceed far in the Article of Controversie We are on the true Idea of Unity The last part of our preceding Letter was employed in refuting the false Idea of Unity We have made it appear that 't is a foolish and cruel Opinion to shut up Salvation in any single Communion and that of all the Sects of Christianity that of Rome has the least right to pretend to it The Bishop of Meaux brags much of four or five Passages of St. Cyprian to prove this cruel Paradox This ancient Doctor goes so far as to say * Lib. de Vnitate That there can be no Martyr but in the Church that when a man is separated from its Vnity 't is in vain that he sheds his blood for the Confession of Christ Jesus This Maxim in a large signification may be endured for indeed there may be Hereticks who confessing the Name of Jesus Christ but on the other side ruining the Foundations of the Christian Religion may dye for the Religion of Jesus Christ to no advantage but the Application which S. Cyprian makes thereof is one of those faults over which wise men ought to draw a Curtain He proceeds so far as to apply it to the Novatians Now it must be known these Novatians were good Christians a thousand times better than are the Papists seeing they did not ruine any of the Foundations but retained and believed all the Christian Verities only they were something severe in Discipline and would not receive those that fell in times of Persecution to the Peace of the Church Was not this a great crime Was not this a fine occasion to say as Cyprian did That a Novation was no Christian Was not this a very fine Foundation for that terrible and cruel Sentence That a Novation dying a Martyr for Jesus Christ was nevertheless damned Of what make and constitution are the Doctors of the Roman Church that make use of these Excesses which ought to be hid out of Honor to those great men which fell into them These are Scars remaining in their Flesh to the end that we should not exalt them too much by reason of their great Virtues Behold my Brethren the eye wherewith Mr. de Meaux looks on you he for your sakes makes use of the eyes which St. Cyprian had for the Novatians concerning whom he said A Novatian is out of the Church he is no Christian So says Mr. de Meaux concerning you The Calvinists are out of the Church and are no Christians And why then Gentlemen do you address to us Pastoral Letters Why do you call us your wandring Brethren Will you dare to say that we are no Christians Let these Writers of Pastoral Letters says Mr. de Meaux who shrowd themselves with some shreds of S. Cyprian take all his Doctrine entire Go to Mr. you may say unto him If you find the Doctrine of S. Cyprian so good why don't you take it whole and entire Why don't you say that all the Greeks and all the Christians of the East are not Christians Dare you say that all the Greeks which have been martyred by the Turks and Saracens since the Tenth Age are damned and that they did not suffer Martyrdom although they suffered for Jesus Christ For my part I am persuaded that if you press your Converters on this Subject with their Passages of St. Cyprian they will blush on both Cheeks Remember therefore with respect to St. Cyprian that the love which he had for the Peace of the Church and the horror that he had for Schism ran him into that excess to believe or say That out of that I know not what exterior Unity of the Church a man could not be saved 'T was in this Age that men began to corrupt the Idea of the Church as I have already observed To what will all this come and what profit will you draw thence my Brethren 'T is that thereby you will prove to your Converters the falseness of this Doctrine That the Unity of the Church is included in the Roman Church that out of this Church or in any other private Communion there is no Salvation and thereby you will convince them that they are not infallible for if this Article be false That the Roman Church alone possesses that Vnity she hath erred and that in an important and capital Affair You will also thereby convince them That the Roman Religion is the most cruel and the most damnable of all the Sects of Christianity forasmuch as it condemns the most men For by defming that she alone possesses saving Vnity and by condemning all those that are not in this Vnity she damns three fourth parts of the Christian World. And to conclude you will establish your selves in a holy confidence that by being or having been out of the Roman Communion you have not bâ—en out of the Vnity and you have not shut the door of Salvation upon your selves since Salvation is not included precisely in the Roman Communion and that saving Vnity is not shut up within the circle of any certain Communion On the Subject of this Vnity you will desire me without doubt that I will furnish you wherewithal to answer the Question which your Converters will put to you In what then does the Vnity of the Church consist if it does not consist in adherence to such and such Pastors Answer them my Brethren That this Vnity consists 1. In the Vnity of Spirit forasmuch as God and the Spirit are the Soul of all Christian Communions which do retain the fundamental Truths 2. In the Vnity of Doctrine which is one through all the World where Jesus Christ is purely taught 3. In the Vnity of Sacraments which are the same every where where they have been preserved and not corrupted Let Churches be separated and set at a distance one from another as far as the Antipodes are from us let them have no knowledge one of another They will not cease to be one by this triple Vnity of Spirit Doctrine and Sacraments If there were a pure Church in the farthest part of Ethiopia or in the utmost part of China we should be one Church with them though we had never heard any thing said one of another It is not therefore the Unity of Ceremonies of Worship Discipline and Pastors which makes the Essential Vnity that 's an accidental Unity which a man may break without going out of the true Unity So the Novatians which were separated from the Church for a little unhappy point of Discipline were in the wrong no doubt and greatly in the wrong and Novatian above all who was the
there has happened very considerable and essential alterations since that in this time men have overwhelmed Religion by an infinite multitude of vain Ceremonies which have degenerated into Superstitions that they have introduced the criminal Worship of Creatures that they have established the distinctions of Powers and Tribunals which at last have destroyed the true Authority of the Holy Scripture 2. It appears by that which we have shewn to you that far greater changes have yet happened since the fifth Age than had happened before for seeing that in these Ages men knew neither Transubstantiation nor the Real Presence nor the Adoration of the Sacrament nor the Worship of Images nor Purgatory nor the Sacrifice of the Mass nor the Communion under One Kind nor the Soveraign Authority of the Pope all these points being at this day fundamental Articles of Popery 't is unavoidable that since that time there have happened great changes and alterations And to prove the truth thereof against the illusion of the impossibility of insensible changes you have nothing to do my Brethren but to serve your selves of the Proofs which we have put into your hands and say In the fifth Age the Real Presence was not believed 't is believed at this day they did not adore the Sacrament they adore it now they did not worship Images they do worship them at present therefore a change is happened To convince your Converters of the possibility of changes in things that are essential serve your selves only of the Example of Masses without Communicants They will not dare to deny that this is not a thing wholly unknown to all Antiquity And I dare tell you that if they had seen a Priest communicate alone in the Mysteries they would have believed the Spirit of Reprobation were fallen upon the whole Assembly * Canon 10. of Apost decret de Gratian de consecrat Dist 2. Canon per acta distinct 1. Canon Episcopus It was not so much as permitted to assist when they did not communicate and the Regulations thereof are yet found in their Canon-Law nevertheless 't is an important affair if there be any such in Popery For 't is a frightful difference that a Feast instituted to be eaten in common by all the Believers should be changed into a Spectacle where all the Devotion of the People consists in seeing without eating and without understanding Besides thereon depends the question concerning the Sacrifice of the Mass for if it be a true Sacrifice they have some reason to say that 't is not always necessary that the Faithful eat thereof But that the Ancients did never permit any to assist at the Mysteries without participation in them is an evident proof that they did not then look on them as a Sacrifice the efficacy whereof depends upon the Oblation but as a Sacrament the whole efficacy whereof depends upon the reception An Article of Controversie An Examination of the two last false Consequences which the Papists draw from the perpetual Visibility of the Church IN our preceding Letter we have explained how the Church is Visible and always Visible and we have refuted one of the Consequences which the Converters draw from thence behold another of them unto which it behoves us to answer The Church say they is always Visible therefore 't is necessary that she should always have had a Succession of lawful Pastours This is designed to make you confess 1. That the Pastours of the Church of Rome are lawful Pastours and always have been so 2. And by consequence that we are separated from lawful Pastours and a lawful Ministery To this answer That from this that the Church is always Visible it doth indeed follow that there hath always been true Preaching in some points i. e. in fundamental Articles in like manner that it doth follow that there hath been always true Pastors in some things and in some respect but it doth not follow that the Ministery which is legitimate in some things is so in every thing for you must know that the Ministery depends only upon the Doctrine If the Christian Doctrine be wholly corrupt and annihilated in a Society the Ministery is null'd nor is there any thing lawful there If the Doctrine be pure and Christian in all its parts the Ministery is intirely legitimate in all respects To conclude if the Doctrine be partly Christian and partly Antichristian the Ministery is partly lawful and partly unlawful This is the condition of the Ministery of the Church of Rome in that Church there is Christianity and Antichristianity Christianity in the Creeds and Antichristianity in the superstitions and Idolatrous Additions The Pastors of that Church receive Commission to preach both Christianity and Antichristianity the Ministery is legitimate in that they receive Commission to preach Christianity their Ministery and their Mission is wholly illegitimate in that they receive Commission to preach Antichristianity 'T is null for we can do nothing against the Truth If you well understand this you will easily answer the question proposed unto you Why do you Separate from a true and lawful Ministery Answer we do not separate from the Ministery of the Roman Church in that which it teaches of Truth in the preaching of the three Creeds nor in that which it hath of Lawful In this respect we are united for we are in the same Doctrine and by consequence in the same Ministery We are not separate from the Ministery of the Church of Rome but with respect to the Commission she gives her Pastors to make the Body of Jesus Christ and teach Idolatry now this part of her Ministery is null vain criminal and illegitimate The third false consequence which your Converters draw from the perpetual Visibility of the Church is That Jesus Christ will always teach with these visible Pastors If Monsieur de Meaux and those like him understand thereby that Jesus Christ ought to guide them by a Spirit of Infallibility the supposition is false and there is no necessity of adding any thing to make the Falseness thereof appear For I have proved that perpetual Visibility doth not signifie that the Church by remaining always visible must necessarily be always pure and infallible This is true in its Pastors as well as in its other Members for the Pastors have no priviledge of being infallible any more than the other parts of the Church If you desire that I should add something thereon it shall be only this 'T is that the Church is as a Man who after he hath been young and sound becomes old and diseased This Man is visible with his gray Hairs and his rotten Teeth and Wrinkles just as he was when he had his complexion fresh his colour lively the air of his countenance brisk vigorous In like manner the Church hath been young sound and pure in the Ages next to the Apostles by little and little she is grown old and at last is become deformed through corruption but
THE PASTORAL LETTERS Of the INCOMPARABLE JURIEU Directed to the Protestants in France Groaning under the BABYLONISH TYRANNY TRANSLATED Wherein the Sophistical Arguments and Unexpressible Cruelties made use of by the PAPISTS for the making Converts are laid open and expos'd to just Abhorrence Unto which is added a brief Account of the Hungarian Persecution LONDON Printed for T. Fabian at the Bible in St. Paul's Church-yard a corner Shop next Cheapside and J. Hindmarsh at the Golden Ball over against the Royal Exchange in Cornhil 1689. MVNIFICENTIA REGIA 171â— GEORGIVS D. G. â—AS BR PR ET 〈…〉 D. J.P. sc TO HIS HIGHNESS THE Prince of ORANGE GREAT SIR IT would be hard to find out Reasons which might justifie the boldness of this Dedication did not the Subject of the Book direct it to Your Highnesses feet Whither can Religion and Truth fly for refuge from foul Superstition back'd with hellish Fury but to the Protection of that fortunate Arm to which already so many Nations owe the enjoyment of their Religion their Liberty and whatsoever is dear to Men and Christians By Your Heroick Courage and more than human Conduct it is that Our Selves are not the Subject of a like lamentable History and that we read the salvage Barbarities of these Bigots in a Translation Few Years it was hop'd would have pass'd before our own Country might have been the Scene of their Villanies and what we now upon reading can hardly believe we should then have seen and felt But the God of Heaven of his infinite Mercy check'd their Progress forbad the proud Waves and set bounds to their Insolence Accept therefore Mighty PRINCE this humble Dedication of the best and fittest Offering can be made to Your Illustrious Name by us the Fellow-Sharers in that great Deliverance which Providence by your Highnesses means has wrought for us Your Highness's Most humbly devoted Servants THE Translator's Epistle TO THE READER 1. 'T IS sufficiently known by those who have read the History of France that Liberty for the exercise of the Reformed Religion was established by Law See Mr. de Serres Hist p. 842. The Edict of Nantes which allowed them that Liberty was signed by Henry IV. in April 1598. which Edict contained a Narration of the former Edicts of Pacification and of the Troubles occasion'd in France about matters of Religion 2. 'T is true the Parliament of Paris were something unwilling to confirm this Edict and some others made great opposition to it The Bishop of Modena who was Pope 's Nuncio in France and Berthier one of the Agents for the Clergy made many Petitions to the King and did greatly importune the Lords of the Council very seriously and deeply to consider the matter Ibid. 843 844. After the King had heard what was to be said on both sides he was satisfied of the Wisdom and Justice of what he had done as well as of the Necessity thereof for the establishment of the Peace of France which had been almost ruined by the Wars that had been made by reason of Religion And thereupon the King addresses himself by a Speech to the Parliament of Paris and told them that he desired and expected they should establish the Edict that he had granted to them of the Reformed Religion and in brief tells them I have made it and will have it observed and his Will should serve for Reason which is never demanded of a Prince in such an obedient state After this Discourse they confirmed the Edict in February following 3. This Edict the Reformed accounted their great Security for the free exercise of their Religion and it really was so in great degree for many years See also a new Systeme of the Apocalypse p. 219 220. How many Violations were offered thereunto in the Reign of Lewis XIII I shall not enumerate in this place Those that have been offered thereunto by the present French Monarch before its utter Repeal may be read in a little Book written some seven or eight Years since called the Policy of the Clergy of France to destroy the Protestants of that Kingdom to which you may add a second called The last Efforts of Afflicted Innocence 4. And the truth is their Practice is agreeable to their Doctrine they do affirm that no Faith is to be kept with Hereticks and that all Promises made to them are void of all Obligation as in the famous Instances of John Husse and Jerom of Prague more Instances of their Perfidiousness might easily be produced Vid. Chronic. German Bucholt p 313. Florimond de Ralemond in Hist of Heresie p. 407. but 't is done so frequently by our own Authors in the English Tongue that I think there is no need thereof 5. I do not think all those of the Catholick Religion equally false and perfidious Vid. Jesuits Morals p. 46 47 c. I do believe that there is something humane in many of them that as an Antidote does preserve them from the venom of their own Doctrine and that they may be morally trusted as other Men. But after so many Experiments as we have had of their Falseness I think they are bold people that will run the hazard thereof 6. What Cruelties have been exercised against the Reformed in France both before and since the Repeal of the Edict of Nantes See Mr. Juâ—ieu Advice to all Christians prefixed to his Accomplishment of Prophesies may be learn'd in part from the following Letters of the Learned Monsieur Jurieu concerning which I think I may say that instances of greater Barbarity can hardly be found in the Histories of the Primitive Persecutions by Heathen Emperors and yet Court Flatterers would persuade the World that there is no Persecution in France but that all the numerous Conversions made there have been by methods of sweetness favour and mercy and by the same methods of softness and indulgence how many throughout Europe may be made Turks in a short space of time is not hard to conjecture 7. I wonder with what front these Men can impose such notorious Falsehoods upon the World France entertains Ambassadors from all the Courts in Christendom Vid. Jurieu ibid. and is full of forein Travellers and Merchants they see with their eyes and hear with their ears the Miseries Calamities the Groans and Cries of the Reformed We our selves have seen thousands of them forsaking their Houses Lands Friends and Estates and coming over to us to find Bread in a strange Land and it was never yet known that Men should forsake Plenty at home upon the hopes of finding Cloaths to cover their nakedness and Bread to keep them from starving in a forein Country Those that can believe these Men are not persecuted must disbelieve their Senses in more things than the Doctrine of Transubstantiation 8. The persecuted French themselves do acknowledge that their great Monarch is not bloody they impute all these Severities that have been exercised upon them to the
Persecutors could no more distinguish the Conduct of this day from that of Charles IX and Henry II. They said that never did any Persecution proceed further than blood and that there was no further pretence to say that they served themselves with moderate ways for our Conversion but this Declaration of the month of July is nothing in comparison of that of the month of April for I dare say that Hell never produced any thing more horrible I impute not this to the Supream Powers who have suffered themselves to be surprised to publish such an Edict A spirit so imployed with designs of finishing his Work as is that of our King is not capable of giving attention to any thing else But I impure it to the Counsel of Conscience to the Bishops and Jesuits which draw up the Decrees and cause them to be signed with blinded Eyes I do maintain that never was there any Society gave so great marks and signs of reprobation as that which forms and executes these projects After that Monsieur de Meaux hath said that that which is done at present is an exercise of the right Fidelity and Justice that Princes have to imploy the Sword for the punishment of Malefactors Let us see how he goes on And although you will not permit to Christian Princes to revenge great Crimes because they are injurious to God may they not revenge them because they cause trouble and Sedition in the State Without doubt those that trouble the State of what Religion soever they be be they Orthodox or otherwise may be punished But who are these that trouble the State are they those which Kill which Massacre and Plunder or those which live peaceably and demand nothing but liberty to worship God according to their Consciences and agreeably to the Edicts which have been granted them with all sorts of promises and securities What trouble do we make in the State What evil have we done in putting the Crown in the Family of Bourbon and in hindering it from falling from the Head of Lewis XIV during his minority Where are our Seditions and Revolts Europe knows and sees who they are which trouble the State whether we or they which lay wast the Provinces which diminish the Revenues of the King which weaken and abolish Trade and force more than a million of souls to search out ways to get out of the Kingdom The Bishop of Meaux adds Do you not clearly see that you build upon a false Principle If it were true they were the Arrians the Nestorians and the Pelagians that had reason to complain of the Church seeing they were those which were Banished and Persecuted and Catholick Princes were those that did Persecute and Banish them First of all I say that they rendered to the Arrians no more but what they had done to the Church They had removed and chased away the Orthodox from their Churches they had Banished the Orthodox and they Banished them Secondly I answer that it is false that Catholick Princes ever did that against the Arrians the Nestorians and Pelagians that is this day done against us Let Monsieur de Meaux a little unfold his skill in History and let him make us see that the Emperors did send Armies into the Arrian Villages and by the most cruel treatments force Abjuration Let him make us see that they did exact subscriptions that they did beat imprison send to the Mines or Gallies those that refused it To conclude I say that there is a great deal of difference between Banishing and Tormenting of Hereticks A Prince that will preserve his State clean may send Hereticks whose Doctrine he would not have dispersed with their Families and Goods elsewhere If the King had been contented to have Banished us with our Families and Goods we had had subject of complaint because of the false opinion that they have entertained concerning us that we are Hereticks doth not give them any right to treat us as such and to break the Confederations made with us and our Ancestors But nevertheless we would have suffered this injustice patiently because it would have been nothing in comparison of what is done against us at this day And at present also the Catholicks which are punished with death in Sueden and so many other Kingdoms would have reason of complaint against those that call themselves Reformed and every one in his turn would have right and wrong right in one place and wrong in another and Religion would depend upon uncertainties Let not Monsieur de Meaux be displeased it is not honest to advance matters of Fact so barbarous as these without any proof yea matters of Fact the falsity whereof are notorious They punish the Catholicks in Sueden and many other Countries with death I demand for the Publick in the Age present and in the Age to come Justice for this Calumny Nothing is more false and more known to be so for there is not a Protestant State where the Papists have not permission to live and live according to their Conscience although in some places they have not the publick exercise of their Religion and they are very few I know not whether Sueden be one of them The rest of that period every one has right and wrong c. is a Riddle which-covers at the bottom the most frightful Doctrine that ever was published It is that every Prince in his Dominions hath right to exterminate by Fire and Sword all those which are not of his Religion It is the established Law which according to Monsieur de Meaux ought to be the same every where to the end that it be not exposed to uncertainties It is I say the most horrible Doctrine that a Christian can teach For according to it the Turks have right to cut the Throats of Christians in all places where they are Masters Behold the argument of Monsieur de Meaux weakned and overturned if I do not mistake nevertheless it is certain that it comprehends in brief the best of all which these Gentlemen have to say on that behalf I had designed to leave the rest of Monsieur de Meaux his Letter because the Chapter concerning the Adoration of the Eucharist and that of the Judge of Controversies which he touches transiently will have their place in the following Letters and there be handled somthing at large But I have thought that the Readers love to find an Antidote wherever they find Poison for which reason we will say something thereon that the weakness of what he doth advance may appear to the end that they may not be imposed upon by these appearances of demonstration He touches the Adoration of the Bread and says The fear that you have that they will make you adore Bread hath some appearance of truth according to your prejudice I am well pleased that they do acknowledge that our fear hath some appearance of truth at least If the real presence were engravers in the Scripture as with a beam
to which we shall return when we have finished the examination of this To fill up our sheet we will give you a Letter of one of our most famous Confessors which will begin to acquaint you with the History of his Confession And afterwards you shall have some other Letters which have followed this At Paris from the Tournel May 16. 1686. IT is so advantageous in tryals so barbarous as that in which I have been for six months last past to be assisted by your good Prayers that it was my design Monsieur to desire them from the very moment of my confinement at Strasburgh But the difficulty which I find to get passage for my Letters out of the Kingdom hath deprived me of this benefit Now when it seems that I have more occasion than before to procure for my self this happy assistance I do desire it Monsieur with all earnestness possible and intreat you in the name of God not to refuse me The second of December last I with my Wife and four Children which God hath given me were arrested two Leagues on this side Strasburgh and conducted to a Prison in that City where we all were almost seven weeks My Wife fearing to see our dear Family ruined fell under the temptation and did what the Declaration of his Majesty demanded of her For my self I have always supported my self by the Grace of God and have suffered all that which Zeal hath been able to inspire into the puissant Body of the Jesuits to make me fall but God hath perfected his strength in my weakness and has given me the Grace boldly to maintain his Truth both with Heart and Mouth From thence we were conducted by order of his Majesty with a good guard to the Prison of Challons where I was just six weeks fifteen days whereof I passed in a Dungeon without being seen of any person unless it were once or twice by my Wife I was visited by many Ecclesiasticks and amongst others thrice by Monsieur Bishop of Challons of whom I received nothing but civilities I was tempted by sweetness by many offers of service and in conclusion by severity and God by his Grace having rendered all the means employed to seduce me ineffectual the ninth of March last the President condemned me to serve the King for ever in his Gallies and my Goods to be Confiscate as those of a Gally-slave Two days after I was removed and carried to Paris where I was put in a dark Dungeon and where I have been two whole months After my arrival I was twice present with the Procurator General in a Chamber of the Prison I answered to all that he said to me that which Jesus Christ inspired me withal according to his holy promises He visited me also once afterwards and gave me this testimony that it was rare to see me do that for error which peradventure not one of them would do for truth A little after Monsieur the first President caused me to be taken out of the Dungeon after the most civil manner in the World. When I was in the Chamber where he expected me he caused all his retinue to go out which was made up of six or seven persons of worth and honoured me with his discourse Face to Face for the space of two hours he testified a great deal of kindness towards me and desire to serve me and as soon as he was gone out he returned to his company and told them as one of my friends which was present reported to me I come from discoursing an honest Man. Monsieur these are but words nevertheless there is somthing of consolation in them I have also received many marks of favour from Monsieur de Mesme President of the Tournel Chamber of Justice where I was condemned he talked with me at the entrance of the Dungeon and after a little discourse told me that it was with grief he saw me there and that he wished me some gentle sickness that he might have occasion to take me thence and put me in the Hospital and that as often as I desired to speak with him I had no more to do than to tell the Goaler of it who would give him knowledge thereof and he would not fail to come to the Prison and see me All these civilities had their design but they were thanks be to God utterly ineffectual God hath put into my Heart to be faithful to the death if there be occasion for it In conclusion upon the ninth instant I was brought into the place of Judicature and presented to my Judges they brought me to the Bar and after I had taken my Oath and they had drawn from me a confession whereof I glory the President after some discourse of Religion said to me Monsieur bethink your self well you know that the Declaration of the King doth expresly determine your condemnation I answered him my Lord I am past deliberations in this case I am ready to suffer all those penalties to which the Court shall please to condemn me how rough soever they may be they will be less troublesom than to act against my Conscience and to play the part of an Hypocrite who is an abhorrence to God and Men. They appointed me to withdraw Nevertheless contrary to the usual method I was not condemned that morning but the Tuesday following the fourteenth instant my condemnation was confirmed by a Decree of the Court and about three hours after I was drawn out of the Dungeon they put Irons on my Hands they put me in a Coach and I was carried to the Tournel where they put the persons condemned to the Gallies The Governor here willing to treat me like an honest Man put not the Chain but on my left foot but on the morning the fifteenth instant Monsieur the first President and the Procurator General told me that they beheld my misfortune with grief and that the King intended they should put the Chain about my Neck as is usually done to those that are the lewdest Villains This news was soon brought to me I told our Governor I should obey the orders of the King with a very respectful submission At the same time they took the Chain from my Foot and put another about my Neck which weighed full fifty pound Behold Monsieur the abridgment of my misery or to speak more truly of my glory for I give thanks every day to my God for the honour that he does me in not esteeming me unworthy to suffer for his name Join your prayers to mine I intreat you Monsieur to obtain from the Mercy of God his assistance so long as it shall please him to continue my sufferings Let Mademoiselle your Wife if she pleases grant me the succour of her Prayers Pardon the little order you will find in a Letter written by pieces and by stealth and in the midst of twenty seven Gally-Slaves I pray God to heap upon you both the most precious of his blessings I intreat you my Brethren
overwhelm it Herein is the strength of the Church and 't is a Miracle and on the occasion thereof we ought to say 'T is the Finger of God. Without putting you upon Inquiries and Disquisitions consider whether it be likely that God who hath permitted so many depths in the Scriptures and that from thence have arrived so many Schisms among those that profess to receive and believe them hath not left some means in his Church to quiet and determine them Is it likely that there should be no remedy for Divisions but that every one may believe according to his own fancy and the minds of Men be thence led insensibly to an indifference in Religions which is the greatest of all Evils Is not this what I said but even now To discourse in the air against known matters of Fact and against such Truths as all the World confess and avow Let us say with Monsieur de Meaux it is not probable that God should leave so many depths in the Holy Scriptures from which so many Divisions might arise and not leave to his Church some means to put a period to them Behold the Principle And who can deny so plausible a Maxim But behold my Conclusion Therefore there have been never any Divisions about the sense of Scripture which the Church hath not found means to determine Therefore it hath well and easily determined the Divisions which continued well nigh the space of four hundred years about the Sense of those Words The Father is greater than I. Therefore it quieted the Difference about the Sense of those other Words The word was made flesh And 't is not true that there are millions of Christians in the East Nestorians and Eutychians that have not agreed with the Church of Rome about the meaning of them for 1200 years passed Therefore it hath raised the Divisions about the Sense of those Words of Jesus Christ to S. Peter Feed my Sheep And it is not true-that all the Greek Church is at a Schism with the Latin Church thereon and are not of the mind that they mean that the Bishop of Rome ought to be universal Pastor of all Churches They say and 't is believed that the Latin Church hath been divided almost two hundred years about the Sense of those Words This is my body The Lutherans give one sense the Calvinists another and the Romanists a third sense concerning them But that is not true 't is a popular Error and an illusion It is not probable that God should not leave any means to his Church to quiet the Differences that should arise about the Sense of Scripture A Man would think these Gentlemen had a design to scoff and deride Mankind they form an Eutopia a world made at pleasure out of their own imaginations and tell us that the present world is so made and that we are in it and very well and safe there 'T is in vain that we deny it and say 't is not so we see the contrary the world is not made as you report it They answer us you deceive your selves you are blind Buzzards and see nothing you seem indeed to see the contrary but nevertheless it can be no otherwise than we say and we will demonstrate it by reason My Brethren you may there perceive the falseness and illusion of the method of your Converters Learn from hence in three words what is the proper method of confuting them have recourse to experience and tell them you will prove that it ought to be so and I see with my eyes the contrary to what you say ought to be It is not therefore true that God hath given a sure and easie means to quiet the Differences which may arise about the Sense of Scripture God will save his select but he will abandon his Enemies to blindness T is his pleasure that there be Difficulties in the way of Faith and Salvation but he hath filled the Holy Scriptures with Light to dissipate these Darknesses with respect to his Elect. And as for the Reprobates he permit this spiritual darkness which hinders them from seeing the sparkling and lightsome Truths which are in the Scripture to remain upon their Hearts God hath not left certain means to prevent and pacifie Divisions we are convinced of that by experience For Divisions do continue among Christians and have done so for fifteen Centuries what means soever have been used to heal them But he hath left means sufficiently certain for the conduct of his Children to eternal Life by the way and path of Truth 'T is his Holy Word together with the direction of his Spirit which conducts infallibly not whole Societies but all that are his in particular in all the Truths that are necessary to Salvation and preserves them from all those Errors that are mortal to their Souls Think think of that Mr. hearken to your own reason and not to the subtleties of your Ministers Think think of that my Brethren consult both your reason and your sense attend to that which your eyes report and don 't hearken to the vain reasonings of Men who discourse not upon that which is but upon that which ought to be according to their imaginations Behold that which we have to say at present about this important matter which Monsieur de Meaux touches in his private Letter We must now return to his Pastoral Letter and see how he proves the Title of his second Article The second Article has for its Title in the Margin That the Pastors of the Catholick Church are the only true Pastors He proves it by two Mediums The first is That the Pastors of the Church of Rome alone have the advantage of mutual succession in place and feat one to another Monsieur de Meaux maintains that he is in the place af those that planted the Gospel in hit Diocess And all other Bishops he says have the same Glory The second proof is that they have also a succession of Doctrine 'T is well when these two things go together for otherwise to glory of a Succession of Seats without a Succession of Doctrine is in my opinion the most pitiful glory that any one can ascribe to himself The Patriarch of Constantinople who according to Monsieur de Meaux is a Schismatick he and all his Predecessors for above 800 years is also in the place of those who planted the Gospel in those Countries Nevertheless the Bishop of Rome hath anathematized him an 100 times and doth anathematize him every year on Good Friday in the Bull De Coena Domini The Arrian Bishops did hold the place of the Apostles in the East and at this day the Bishops of Denmark Sueden and England are also in the place of them which planted Christianity in those Countries Monsieur de Meaux perceives well that the Glory of Succession can do him no great good without Doctrine and therefore does very fairly renounce it To separate sound Doctrine from the Chair of Succession is to
life which the Lord hath promised to those that love him I rejoyce in this that our Saviour declares them happy that suffer for Righteousness sake M. I make all my Glory and all my happiness to consist in this that my Saviour has not thought me unworthy to suffer shame for his Name I support my self on the Rock of Ages I put my whole trust in him I expect no succour or assistance but from him alone Upon a Foundation so solid I promise my self that nothing shall be able to shake me at present he makes me feel the effects of a singular goodness in the midst of wicked Passengers which it pleases him that I suffer he makes me to tast the sweetness of true and solid good he fills my soul with that joy unspeakable and glorious which surpasses all understanding he fills me with that hope by which he hath sustained all the happy Confessors of his Truth and by which I hope he will sustain me as well as they My principal study is to disingage my self from Earth to conceive a disgust for the World and an ardent desire for Heaven This Monsieur is my ordinary imployment as far as the infamous place where I am imprisoned will permit it I call it infamous because one never hears an honest word there all rings and sounds again with filthiness and execrable Blasphemies There is such a noise for the most part night and day that I have scarcely found heretofore one happy moment to lift up my Heart to God. I have been so oppressed with sleep that I have oftentimes fell under it before I finished my Prayers when I awake at three or four in the morning I indeavour to sleep no more to the end that whilst we are a little at rost I may with some attention perform my Devotions to God. I have had more liberty for ten or twelve days for when the weather is fair they let the Prisoners go forth and keep them in a Court all the day unless it be six which they keep inclosed I imploy one part of this time in Reading Meditation and Prayer and I take the liberty to sing some Psalms as I have done in all the places of my Captivity and no body hath complained thereof Behold in two words an abridgment of our misery We lie three and fifty of us in a place which is not above five fathom in length and one and a half in breadth There lies on my right side a Countryman sick with his Head at my feet and his Feet at my Head and so it is with others There is not it may be one among us which do not envy the condition of many Dogs and Horses This makes us all wish that the Prisoners may soon depart but that is a secret that must not be told us but as far as we can judge they will depart the next week There were 95 of us yesterday condemned but there dyed two on that day and one on this and we have yet 15 or 16 sick and there be few escape I have had five fits of a Tertian Ague but God bethanked I am very well recovered and prepared to take my Journey to Marseilles We shall take in Burgundy some of our Brethren which are in Prison for the same reason with my self who am the first that have had the honor to be Condemned by the Parliament of Paris There remains no more Monsieur but that I intreat you to continue to me the assistance of your Holy Prayers I desire the same favour of Mademoiselle your Wife whom with your leave I do here assure of my respect Obtain for me if you please the same advantage from those Frenchmen of your acquaintance which God doth admit to your Holy Assemblies Monsieur M arrived yesterday but I have not yet had the honor to see him Not having the liberty to write to my Sister nor my Nephew her Son I must be content here to give them my Salutations I do not write this but in great uncertainty whether it can go hence If your great imployment will permit you to give some Consolation to my Wife and Children as you have made me hope and she expects with a great deal of joy I intreat you do it You may well imagin that our separation will be a thing terrible to us all and above all to her Before I received your Letter I did nor forget in my Prayers those things which you recommended to me I pray God encompass you about with his protection and preserve you many years to labour profitably in his Vineyard Nâ—â—â—mber 1. 1686. The SIXTH PASTORAL LETTER WHAT WAS The Form of Christianity in the second Age. Dear Brethren in our Lord Grace and Peace be given to you from our God and Soviour Jesus Christ WHereas many things worthy of your Curiosity and proper to nourish your Piety have been communicated to us by many of our Brethren we have been tempted for a few months to communicate them to you at this time But in conclusion we have chosen to satisfie the impatience of those which are willing to see what we have to teach them concerning the Christianity of the second Age. We remit therefore to the following Letters that which we do not do in this and we do promise those that have sent us any Memorials touching our Martyrs and Confessors to enter them afterward in this Work according as we shall find place and occasion therein The second Age of the Church WE must consider first of all the manner wherein they did Celebrate the Sacraments and thereby we shall learn what Opinion they had of them They were Celebrated as yet with great Simplicity in the second Age. Behold that which Justin Martyr says concerning the manner of Administring Baptism We will here Expound after what manner we Dedicate our selves to Jesus Christ fearing lest if we pass over any thing concerning it we should be suspected of malignity and dissimulation All those therefore which are persuaded of the truth of our Doctrine and promise to live according to our Rules and Laws are commanded to Pray to Fast and beg the forgiveness of their sins and we Pray and Fast with them After that we lead them to a place where there is Water and we Regenerate them after the same manner which we our selves were Regenerated for we Wash or Baptise them in the Name of the Author of all things of the Lord God and Saviour Jesus Christ and of the Holy Spirit Hitherunto we see nothing changed from the Apostolick Form. There is neither sign of the Cross nor Exorcism nor Salt nor Spittle nor nothing of that which is at this day practised in Baptism Behold after what manner the Mystery of the Eucharist was Celebrated in the same Age according to the Testimony of the same Author and in the same place After says he we have Baptised after the same manner him that doth believe we conduct him to the place where are those Believers
amongst Forgers of Lies I admire the agreement of those Writers which lived two or three thousand years from one another who nevertheless have all conspired to deceive us according to our Moderns and there is neither Sorcerers nor Magicians nor Possessions nor Apparitions of Demons nor any thing like it 'T is much that these Gentlemen have not pushed on their confidence even to deny the truth of matters of Fact contained in the Scriptures which would be very convenient for them In the times that the Sacred Writers writ their Books there were all these things and where do we find that they ought to cease and that a time was to come in which Devils should no more deceive Men and in which he Heaven should speak no more Prodigies Because Historians have not been infallible must we believe they have been all Liars and in all things Can a Man for example honestly call in doubt the prodigies which Josephus reports to us as coming to pass a little before the final ruin of Jerusalem A Man walked round the City and its Walls perpetually crying Wo wo to the Temple City c. and in fine during the Siege as he was upon the Wall he added Wo to me aso that which he never did before and in the very moment a great stone coming from the Engines of the Besiegers knock'd him on the Brest and brake him in pieces A Sword of Fire passed over the City Jerusalem for a whole year together from East to West A Voice was heard in the Temple which said Let us go hence A brazen Gate in the Temple which eighteen or twenty Men could scarce open opened of it self It must be that Josephus had a design to prostitute his Reputation reporting such matters of Fact the falseness whereof he might be convinced of by a thousand Witnesses yet living if they were not true The Saviour of the World was willing to honor some mute presages altho he might well have passed them by since he had so many living Testimonies on his behalf 't was his pleasure that the Heavens should produce a new Star at his Birth or at least that the Air should produce a new Meteor that deserved that name And what shall we say of that great Miracle which was at the Pool of Bethesda where an Angel descended troubled the Waters and the first sick person that went into them after the action of the Angel was healed This marvel was not ancient and without doubt it had not continued long 'T is clear that this was done about the time that our Lord arrived at the age of thirty years and entered upon the Office of Mediator and 't was an admirable presage of the coming of him who is called A fountain opened to the house of Jacob for sin and for uncleanness whose Water that is to say whose Grace was to heal and cure all our Maladies I could bring you an infinite number of matters of Fact very well attested that is to say Visions Prophetick Dreams Signs seen in the Air and in the Heavens which have been Presages of Events little less considerable than those we see at present 'T is true that under color of Signs and Marvels an hundred and an hundred Fables have passed current in the World but all that we ought to conclude thence is that every wise Man will have great Securities before he will believe As soon as any event may have natural Causes it signifies nothing according to these Gentlemen as if God was not at all the Master of natural Causes and could not dispose them for the production of certain Effects when he would presage great Revolutions in the World. It seems to me that Earthquakes have their natural Causes and so have Famines Pestilences and Wars nevertheless Jesus Christ puts these things among those things which are to presage his coming Nation shall rise against nation and kingdom against kingdom there shall be famines earthquakes and pestilences in divers countries And why may we not interpret that which he adds of Eclipses of the Sun and Moon and of Signs which are seen in Heaven The Sun shall be turned into darkness and the Moon shall not give her light the Stars shall fall from Heaven and the powers of Heaven shall be shaken 'T is believed that this is a Description of what shall be at the last Day of Judgment but if this were a place for it I could prove that it is no such thing Not that I am persuaded all Eclipses and all Earthquakes are Presages but there are such Circumstances of time and place and concomitant Signs that a Man cannot as I think without rashness deny that the Providence of God doth dispense them to strike the minds of Men with astonishment and make them attentive to his Judgments What shall we say concerning the Bow in the Heavens It is made without doubt by natural Causes Nevertheless it has been the pleasure of God in all Ages of the World that it should be a Sign by Institution to assure Mankind that there should never be an universal Deluge upon the earth God granted to Gideon a Sign in Nature to assure him of the truth of his Mission Ezekias received one in the Sun at least in the shadow of the Sun on the Dial of Ahaz as a Sign of his restauration to life we may not therefore imagine that 't is contrary to the order of Providence to do extraordinary things in nature for the marking and noting extraordinary events in the World. Let us conclude therefore that the Credulity of our Ancestors hath caused many mischievous Tales to be received as faithful Histories but also that it hath been the cause that very faithful Histories do at this day pass for false Tales I could not refuse this little Prologue to the Year wherein we are presently to engage as abundant in Prodigies as any has been for a long time for on all sides we have heard speak of nothing but extraordinary Storms Fires falling from Heaven others coming out of the Earth of Signs speaking loud which have appeared in the Air of Insects of an unknown shape which have been believed to have fallen from Heaven The Writers of publick News have not been able to forbear remarking them and making their Reflections thereon I believe 't is the interest of the publick to make evident all these Events and there lies an Obligation on those that desire to fear God to give a very exact Relation concerning all these Prodigies if they intend to learn us any thing concerning them we intreat them that it be not on Reports and Hear-says yea that it be not on the report of persons whose fidelity is not very well known for we have no design to deceive either our selves or others this will be known by the manner wherein we shall report a matter of Fact that is to say the singing of Psalms in the Air which has been heard in divers places It is near a year since that
Words of Tertullian ill understood learn from the Example of St. Cyprian who lived in the same Age That Tradition was at that time a proof whereof Men made use according to the diversity of their Apprehensions and their Interests Tertullian seems to make great account of it and St. Cyprian laughs at it when on the subject of Hereticks which he would re-baptize contrary to the Practice of the Church they objected to him Tradition Custom ancient Usage and antique Practice he rejected these Proofs with Contempt and Scorn Stephen had written to him Let nothing be innovated in Tradition Where is this Tradition answers he ‖ Epist 74. is it in the Gospels in the Acts or in the Epistles An ancient Custom without truth is nothing but an old Error And in another Epistle he saith * Epist 63. Since we must hear none but Jesus Christ we need not examine what those that went before us have done but that which Jesus Christ hath done before all for we must not follow the Custom of Men but the Truth of God. To conclude they endeavour to put Scruples in your minds on the Question of the pretended Primacy of the Bishop of Rome and the Roman Church by certain Passages of Tertullian and St. Cyprian either corrupted or ill expounded But that is a business the discussion whereof is too long to be handled at this time yea 't is above the capacity of most of you only know that 't is so far from truth that they did acknowledge the Sovereign Authority of the Pope in that Age that Tertullian makes no scruple to scoff at the Pretensions of the Bishop of Rome and to call him in Raillery the Bishop of Bishops because of some kind of Primacy which he began to pretend to For even in that time the Mystery of Iniquity began to work St. Cyprian despises the Excommunications of Stephen Bishop of Rome and opposes himself to the attempt of those who would appeal to Rome about matters determined in the Provinces of Africa This is that St. Cyprian to whom some Persons attribute the Acknowledgment of the Primacy of the Bishop of Rome who said on the Question of the Baptism of Hereticks and of the Admission of Bishops which had lapsed and fallen †Epist 72. In which case we will do violence to no man nor will we give Law to others observing that every Bishop may use the Power given him according to his Will in the Government of the Church being under no Obligation to give an account thereof to any one but the Lord. 'T was to Stephen Bishop of Rome that he spake thus Judge you whether he acknowledged him for his Superior Hear how the same Cyprian speaks in the face of a Council assembled at Carthage in the Year 258. Let none of us call himself Bishop of Bishops or endeavour to force his Collegues to a necessity of Obedience by a tyrannical fear and terror seeeng every Bishop is Master of himself and cannot be judged by another Bishop nor can he judge other Bishops 'T was also with respect to Stephen Bishop of Rome that he spake thus Has any one the front to say That speaking thus he acknowledged him for his Superior Observe that it was no small Affair that was now under debate 't was about the Baptism of Hereticks a Question which had made a great noise and which Stephen would have decided with too much Authority The Bishop of Meaux after a hundred others of his Communion to prove the Primacy of the Pope by S. Cyprian quotes a Passage from his fifty second Epistle which proves that these Gentlemen do not fear to make themselves ridiculous provided they may seem to say somewhat 'T is a Passage where he pretends S. Cyprian says That the Roman Emperor did suffer in Rome a Priest which was his Rival with more impatience than he suffer'd a Caefar in his Armies which disputed the Empire with him That is to say that the Roman Emperors did impatiently suffer that the Bishop of Rome should be called High Priest to the prejudice of that Dignity which the Emperors assumed unto themselves So that according to this reckoning they were jealous of the Bishops of Rome and look'd upon them as their Rivals in the High Priesthood In truth this is more ridiculous than if one should say The King of England who calls himself Head of the English Church were jealous of the Curate of the Parish of St. Martin in London The Christians certainly were not above one in a hundred in Rome and the Bishops of Rome at that time made less Figure in the World than an Incumbent of five hundred Crowns per annum makes at this day for besides that they were Poor they were also humble What Agreement could the Emperor in quality of a Pagan High-Priest have with this pretended High-Priest of the Christians To be his Rival he must aspire to the same thing I should rather have chosen to have said That the Mufâ—i looks on the Patriarch of Constantinople as his Rival The meanest Scholar knows that the Word Aemulus which signifies Rival signifies also Enemy and 't is clear that S. Cyprian means that that cruel Persecutor the Emperor Decius beheld with more Indignation a Priest that opposed his Religion than he would have look'd upon an Enemy that had disputed the Empire with him To conclude although St. Cyprian should have intended to compare the Bishop of Rome with the Pagan High-Priest it would not follow that the Bishop of Rome was Head of all the Christians in the World for the Roman Priest was not Head but of the Religion of the City of Rome and not of the whole Empire 'T is true that St. Cyprian corrupted the Idea of the Church and opened a door to the most cruel Doctrine that ever was advanced he made a false Idea of the Unity of the Church which he encloses in one only external Communion And because the Unity of one visible Head was not yet invented he imagined I know not what Unity of Episcopacy which all the Bishops did individually possess whereof nevertheless they all administred but a part This inconsistent Imagination gave place afterwards for the Substitution of one single Head to the end that a visible Head might be given to the Unity of the visible Communion which might be the centre thereof This suffices to give you an Idea of the Christianity of the Third Age and by this History you may observe what was altered in Doctrine or Worship 1. They introduced the use of the Sign of the Cross at least in private for we find it not as yet in the publick Acts of Religion We have said nothing to you concerning it as yet because it is a little thing about which we should never make Complaints against any one provided they be not superstitious in the use of it 2. The Liturgy of the Sacrament of the Eucharist was augmented and increased exceedingly by many Prayers
in Christ Jesus confounded the two Natures that he might not separate them and these two Schisms have continued for 1200 years and do continue to this day In the Tenth Age happened the great Schism of the Greek Church from the Latin. The Church of Rome it self has had an infinite number of Schisms in her own Bowels occasioned by her Anti-Popes And the greatest which may serve for a Rule for all was the great Schism of Popes and Anti-Popes whereof the one sat at Rome and the other at Avignon This Schism divided the West into two different Parties under two distinct Heads To conclude in these last times a great Schism is happened in the Latin Church which is divided into three great Bodies the Papists the Lutherans and the Reformed I pass by an infinite number of little Schisms which have been in the East between Church and Church and oftentimes among the Members of the same Church Two Bishops were seen for a long time at Antioch the Party of one of them was called Milesians the other Party Eustathians this was in the Fourth and Fifth Ages These are say I particular Schisms And it may be said that not one of these Schismatical Parties did separate from the Universal Church because not one of them abandoned Christianity they returned and carried it with them Now the Illusion in this matter comes from hence that we confound these two sorts of Schisms those that are Universal with those which are particular and we ascribe to particular Schisms that which belongs only to Schism universal viz. Exclusion from Salvation For 't is true that he who makes a Schism from the Universal Church by renouncing her Doctrine Sacraments and Ministry is utterly out of the Church and without any right to eternal Life But 't is false that particular Schism either from the Church of Rome or from the Greek Church or Schism of the Church of Rome in it self doth exclude from Salvation This folly proceeds from another and that is that every particular Church looks on herself as the Catholick and Universal Church and her particular Doctrines as the Universal and Fundamental Doctrines of Christianity In such manner that those who separate themselves from her and renounce her Doctrines she looks on them as being separate from the Universal Church and as having renounced the Universal Doctrine of Christianity But no Church hath carried this folly to that degree of extravagance as the Church of Rome hath done for she calls herself the Catholick and Universal Church to the exclusion of all others And she would fain that the Doctrines which are peculiar to her as the Supremacy of the Pope Transubstantiation Purgatory c. should be accounted the Universal Truths of Christanity Thence it comes to pass that she considers as Schismaticks and damned all those which separate from her and renounce the most inconsiderable Doctrines which she hath consecrated by her Anathema's To make this foolish Pretension vanish and disappear no more is to be done but to make more evident the true Idea of Schism which the Disputes of these last Ages and the Prejudices of the Ancients have strangely perplexed and confounded To this end it will be useful to consider divers of those Schisms of which we have spoken and see what we ought to judge concerning the Salvation of those who lived in them First there have been Schisms which have been made without any Controversies about Doctrine or Discipline only upon personal Quarrels between Bishop and Bishop such was that furious Schism of the Donatists in Africa which was made only upon the occasion of the choice of a Bishop of Carthage Afterwards the Donatists espoused the Opinion of S. Cyprian about the Nullity of the Baptism of Hereticks and it may be some other Opinions of little importance that they might the more easily maintain and continue their Schism with the Catholicks But the true foundation of the Schism was nothing but a particular Quarrel The Donatists held all the Opinions of the Catholick Church they had the same Sacraments the same Discipline and the same Ministry This being so he must be very cruel that will damn an infinite number of private Persons who followed their Guides as the Inhabitants of Jerusalem followed Absalom in the simplicity of their Hearts I say nothing concerning the Authors of the Schism nor of those who did maintain it as they violated the Laws of Charity and troubled the Peace of the Church we leave them to the Judgment of God We say nothing neither of the Circumcellians a sort of People which arose among the Donatists and offered an Hundred Violences to the Orthodox I speak of those plain People who in the simplicity of their Heart do without Dissimulation believe in Jesus Christ according to the Creed explicated according to the sense of the Church Universal who believe all the Christian Doctrine from the first Article to the last and besides labour with great diligence in the practice of Holiness and Devotion to condemn these Men say I only because they do not communicate with the Pastors of the Catholick Church is a foolish and a barbarous Doctrine of which I do not think there is a Man in the World throughly perswaded although there be a Thousand and a Thousand pretend so to be There are other Schisms which were made about Controversies in Doctrine such is the Schism of the Nestorians and that of the Eutychians who continue at this day and comprehend an infinite number of Christians in the East I believe that Nestorius designed to reduce the Opinion of Paulus Samosatenus to another form which Opinion is that of our Socinians who make Jesus Christ a mere Man. But we must judg otherwise of their Successors At this day the Nestorians and the Eutychians embrace the Apostles Creed and that of Constantinople as do the Greeks and the Latins they believe in Jesus Christ the eternal Son of God God himself dead and raised again for the Salvation of Men and the Disputes which they have with the rest of the Church are at present nothing but Questions about Words and differing manners of expression To damn these Millions of People because of the rashness of a single Man who had the boldness a Hundred and twenty years ago to teach contrary to the manner after which we ought to conceive of the Incarnation of the Word is a Cruelty founded in a most prodigious Error and Mistake 'T is evident that we ought to range them with the rest of the Eastern Church which is not much more pure than that of the West and to leave their Salvation to the judgment of God who alone knows how far his Patience will proceed These two Schisms were without doubt criminal in their Original But time hath changed the state of things and at this day those Christians which are called Jacobites and follow the Schism of Eutyches supposing they embrace all Christian Truths necessary to Salvation are as
That they are divided into three Sects of which Zuinglius Calvin and Luther made themselves the Heads That if the Spirit of God had sent them to Reform the Church he would also have united them in this great design and have inspired them with the same thoughts and the same apprehensions 5. To conclude they say that they have rent and torn each other by transports of Passion which are the true Characters of false Pastors and false Christians As to the first Objection I cannot avoid baptizing it by its own name and calling it an Impertinence Why should our Reformers work Miracles and why were they obliged thereunto When Jehu reformed the Church of Israel pull'd down the Temples of Baal broke in pieces his Statues rooted out his Prophets and abolished his Worship did he work Miracles or had he any need thereof Was it any spot to that Holy Reformation that Josiah made when he re-established the Service of God which was almost wholly under a heap of forreign Idolatries that he wrought no Miracles When Theodosius the Great reformed the Christian Church and drove away Arianism which was become the reigning Religion did he do Miracles or had he any need thereof There is no need to work Miracles but when men bring a new Religion and a new Revelation For that reason the Apostles wrought Miracles because they had a new Revelation to propose to the World. They brought a Gospel unknown to Jews and Gentiles and opposite to the prejudices of the one and the other We brought no new Gospel into the World we propounded the Old and the New Testament the one and the other were received without contradiction by all those Christians which we desired to reform When it shall please God to convert the Jews to Christianity according to his promises there is much probability that he will send them some Prophets which will work Miracles and that will be necessary For although the Gospel-Revelation be already manifested and we have the Books of the Evangelists and the Apostles nevertheless this is nothing with respect to the Jews because they do not esteem our Books Canonical but believe the Apostles to be Cheats and Impostors There is therefore need of new Miracles to recover them from their prejudices and oblige them to give attention to the truth But as for us it was in no wise necessary to work Miracles to establish that Book whereof we served our selves Otherwise as often as the Kings of Judah produced the Law of Moses to make Reformation in their Church they had been obliged to work Miracles They had nothing else to do but to produce the Book and make it evident that the Abominations which had been introduced into Religion were either forbidden or not commanded there Behold all that they had to do behold all that we have to do and 't is to misunderstand the Conduct of God and the Spirit of the Gospel to imagine that the truth cannot be commended to Unbelievers but by Miracles How many millions of men have been converted to Christianity since the days of the Apostles and the cessation of the gift of Miracles Miracles are designed to deliver men from their evil prejudices and to endue them with such as are good that they may hearken to the truth Men that believe not the Christian Religion but only for the sake of its Miracles are very ill-Christians And among those which became Converts by the preaching of the Apostles those who had no other reason to embrace this New Religion but the Miracles which they saw done by those which preacht it were very miserable Converts such persons are the seed of Apostacy and adhere to the Church but by a very feeble root We ought to adhere to it for the love of truth now 't is the knowledge of the truth and not the sight of Miracles which gives birth to the love thereof If Miracles be not necessary for the Conversion of Unbelievers with far greater reason they cannot be of necessity for the bringing back of wandring Christians to the right way For there needs no more but to shew them the holy Scripture which so exactly marks out the path in which they ought to walk As to what they say that those who will establish a new Ministry must have Miracles for the support of it 't is an Affair to be treated on elsewhere We have already said something concerning it and we shall have yet farther occasion to speak of it and shew that we have no more established a new Ministry than we have introduced a new Gospel Where there is no new Revelation there is no new Ministry our Ministry is that of the Apostles because our Doctrine is theirs The second Accusation which they make against the Authors of our Seperation is their Scandalous Life There is no probability say your Converts that God should suffer so strange an Alliance as that would be of a great abundance of the Spirit of Light on the one part and of so great disorders of Manners on the other And thereon they publish a hundred ugly stories to cry down the Memory of Luther Zuinglius Calvin Martyr Beza c. First we say that truth is truth without any dependance on those who declare it Your Converters have said somewhere That the Citizens of Babel may sometimes build Jerusalem 'T is a truth so certain that to deny it a man must be ignorant and false For in all Ages there have been very Evil men who have defended the part of truth and who have even maintained it against Hereticks whose Conduct and Manners have been very regular and oftentimes more edifying than that of the Orthodox We must not form a prejudice against the Doctrine upon the ill Conduct of those which preach it we must judge of Truth by it self So that although it should be true that our Reformers were such as they report them nevertheless it would behove us to see whether these Citizens of Babel were not the Builders of Zion But God forbid that we should have no other fortification to defend our selves We have made to appear the innocence of the Lives of the Authors of our Separation by Apologies of so much strength that their Calumniators have been covered with Confusion and the most part of our most resolved Enemies have been obliged to renounce them The Bolsacs the Bertheliers the Florimond de Raymonds and other like Calumniators ought to be the Horror and Execration of all Honest men The Author of the Legitimate Prejudices against the Calvanists and other like Authors who are willing to preserve themselves in the Esteem of Honest men fortifie and establish themselves upon notorious matters of fact such is for example Marriage of Priests Persons who have made a Vow of Chastity say they and who were obliged to celibate by so many Oaths have violated their Vows in the face of the Sun they have opened Cloysters to take Wives from thence and so have committed a
double Adultery against Christ Jesus These are pitiful Declamations according to my apprehension To judge of the nature of these Actions we must know what were the Principles of those who did them Why should they observe Celibacy since they lookt upon it as a Yoak of which they desired to deliver the Clergy because it had produced a world of Impurities and Abominations so that a Deluge was not capable of purging them They have broken their Vows They were unlawful Vows made under a tyrannical Empire conceived in a false Religion unacceptable to God because they served as a Vail to an infinite number of Corruptions and at the same time to a debaucht and hypocritical life They forsook Babylon and it behoved them to forsake all the Badges thereof This kind of life which under an appearance of Piety hides such great Disorders is the true Character of the Beast These Monks are those Hypocrites whose Consciences are seared as with a hot Iron forbidding to marry and commanding to abstain from Meats which God hath permitted which teach a Doctrine of Devils and serve as a Support to the Throne of the Beast So that these Reformers being delivered from the tyrannical Yoak of this unhappy Empire ought to return to the enjoyment of all their Rights and of all their Liberty and being put in the possession of it they may and ought to use it There needs but one thing to confound all these Calumniators who are willing to stain and blacken the Lives of the Authors of our Reformation What have these Reformers gained what have they gotten to do the work of Impostors Have they gained Riches Honours or great Dignities Have they left great Houses have they left Heirs and Children that were great Lords Never did persons despise their own Interests more than they did they never got wherewithal to be buried decently and scarcely got wherewith to live Their Zeal Firmness Constancy and Perseverance joyned with a contempt of their own Interest make up a Character very opposite to that of dishonest men If they had been debauched effeminate Lovers of Pleasure why did they go out of the Body of the Roman Clergy who enjoyed all the pleasures of the flesh even those which were most infamous with so much convenience and advantage These Gentlemen say that the principal reason which gave such success to the New Gospel was the licentiousness of the Church-men and the Monks of that Age. This is it which that same Lady does confess who makes the ill Conversation of the Authors of our Separation one cause of her return to the Church of Rome But this Confession and this Truth which is publickly known doth it not utterly ruine the Accusation which the Papists make against our Reformers Is there any probability that the great number of people which forsook the Roman Church being scandalized by the wicked Lives of its Guides should list themselves under the Ensigns of other wicked persons which were no better than those they had forsaken If they were not vicious and debaucht at least say they they were fierce proud Lovers of themselves passionate ambitious vain and violent These are stroaks striken in the Air and Accusations which make it evident they have nothing to say Concerning Ambition there doth not appear any footstep thereof in their Conversation And that which they call Pride and Fierceness is according to us Zeal and Vigour in the maintenance of Truth as we shall make it appear in examining the third Accusation The third Accusation is that it 's evident the Authors of our Separation were inspired with a dark Malignity against the Roman Church they vomited out against her say they flouds of Injuries and every-where is to be seen a Character of black Gholer which discharges it self both upon their Persons and Religion They support and strengthen this Accusation by the Confession of some Protestants who were of another frame and temper of mind and did not approve those methods of proceedure that were so full of flame and fire I answer That Grace which changes mens Manners does not change their Temper and Constitution but governs and serves it self thereof Although it should be true that there appeared a great deal of fire in the Authors of our Reformation that would be no sufficient cause to condemn them it being the temper of all Great men And this temper is of so great necessity for the execution of great things that without it 't is very difficult to carry on and prosecute great Designs and Enterprizes This is a thing unto which those men have too little regard which at this day do so highly commend and advance the Elogies of sweetness and moderation in Controversies and who perswade us to imitate other Great men who are of a quite contrary Character and temper of Mind If these honest men of this last Order that is to say these soft and moderate men had been born in the past Age and had been engaged in that great Work they had neither maintained nor carried it so far as did those men the heat of whose Temper they would fain make a Crime If Luther had not had a heart fearless and of inconceivable courage he had never been able to bear up against the Torrent of Contradictions and Oppositions that he met withal and repelled Father Paul the famous Venetian Divine who became famous on occasion of the Affair of the Interdict of that Republick knew assuredly the Corruption of the Roman Church at least as well as Luther He made no secret of it no eminent Protestant passed by Venice to whom he did not discover himself concerning it They often represented to him that he was obliged in Conscience to break with a Church the Impurity and Idolatry whereof he so well understood He had a thousand Reasons to offer on his own behalf sometimes that he separated the good from the bad sometimes that he was of use to a thousand persons that lay hid and had good sentiments at last when he was pressed hard he would say that God had not given to him the Heart and Spirit of Luther It is certain that if Father Paul had been of the Temper and Spirit of Luther Venice had been at this day what Geneva is And it is also certain that if Luther Zuinglius and Calvin had been of the Temper and Spirit of Father Paul all Europe had been yet what Venice is at this day It behoves us therefore to admire the great and profound Wisdom of God who chose for so great a Work men whose Temper was fit to maintain improve and exercise Zeal effectually To this Consideration add another the Authors of our Reformation have indeed spoken ill of the Church of Rome of its Priests of its High-Priest of its Monks and its Guides And why might they not speak ill of them I do maintain that they said nothing but what was true they could scarcely speak too much ill of Popery They said that the Church
to the Persecutors the year following in the Month of February 1674 they summon'd before their Tribunals generally all Ministers Regents Professors and Masters of Schools of the Reformed Religion in Hungary as well those of the Confession of Ausburgh as those of the Confession of Switzerland part of them refuse to appear others fled and others tarried at home under the protection of their Lords who were Protestants Nevertheless there were to the number of two hundred and fifty which had the courage to appear at the day appointed These were they which God had appointed to be the Objects of the most cruel Rage that ever was exercised Of these two hundred and fifty they chose out six to answer in the name of all to the Accusation which was thus formed against them That renouncing the fear of God and Men they had accused all the Members of the Catholick Kingdom of Hungary and by consequence the King himself of being Idolaters that they had spoken insolently in their Sermons against the Blessed Virgin the Saints departed and against their Images and those of Jesus Christ that they had violated the Oath of Fidelity made to their Prince given Succours to his Enemies opened the way to the Turks to the end they might possess themselves of the Kingdom of Hungary and by consequence that they were guilty of Treason against GOD and Man and worthy to lose both their Goods and Lives The first part of the Accusation was an Affair purely of Religion and 't was that alone for which these poor afflicted persons suffered Persecution For the fault of Rebellion there was not the least ground to suspect them guilty of it their Judges themselves justified them therein and Forgatz the President of the Chamber said to some that did sollicite him In the Name of God trouble me no more for before God I myself am in no security for if I speak but one word on their behalf they will accuse me of Rebellion and cast me into Prison But in truth they were ready to discharge them of the punishments which these horrible Crimes deserved and whereof they were accused provided they would sign the Writing which others had signed confess themselves guilty and go into voluntary Exile Yea they offered to give them Money to conduct them whithersoever they would go There is a great deal of probability that persons who had caused the Turk to enter into the Country should be permitted to quit it by a voluntary Banishment Moreover this Accusation seems so absurd that I can see no reason why they should choose it for a pretence 'T is a hellish Wickedness to determine Banishment to persons only for Religion and yet make them confess a Fault of which every one knows they were innocent to the end they might have opportunity to say that they were punished for a Crime against the State. 'T is the Spirit that hath always reigned among Persecutors The Pagans made the Christians suffer horrible punishments only for their Faith Nevertheless to deprive them of the glory of Martyrdom they would make them confess these enormous Crimes whereof they were accused On this pretended Crime or to speak better upon the refusal of these Hungarian Pastors to quit their Ministery their Churches and their Country on the fourth of April 1674 they were condemned to dye And happy had they been if the Sentence had been executed upon them since never were Martyrs and Confessors under the first ten Persecutions of the Pagans exposed to such cruel tryals and temptations Leopold of Colonitsch Bishop of Newstadt the Jesuite Nicholas Kellion Monsters of barbarity and cruelty were the chief Ministers of those horrible torments which they caused these glorious-Confessors of Jesus Christ to suffer whereof we shall give you a very short Abridgement They had no design to put them to death according to the sentence pronounced against them that had been to deliver them too soon and it 't was in their design to make them pass through a thousand deaths successively Some of them they put into Irons giving liberty to others thereby to oblige them to renounce the truth through fear of the Chastisement which they saw fall upon their Companions For the space of eight whole Weeks they employed all sorts of Artifice to get them to sign the Writing and to go voluntarily into Banishment confessing themselves guilty But seeing they encouraged each other to bear the tryal they separated them and put the Ministers of the Confession of Ausburgh by themselves Many fell subscribed confessed themselves guilty and went into Exile There was forty six which refused and were cast into prisons and a few hours after they fetched them thence and transported them some by Waggon and some by the Danube into divers Fortresses of the Kingdom They carried twenty to Comarine eight to Sawarine eight to Berenstchine and nineteen to Leopolstadt all of them laden with Chains and Irons They gave for Conductor to those nineteen carried to Leopolstadt a Hangman which carrying Halters in his hand throughout the whole Journey threatned to hang them on the first Gibbet if they did not yield to what he demanded of them The Reformed Pastors of the Confession of Switzerland had more courage than the most part of the Lutheran Pastors for except two they all resolv'd to suffer all things rather than sign that Writing by which it was intended they should sully their innocence by confessing a pretended Rebellion and that they should renounce their Ministry Upon their refusal they distributed them as the others to divers Cittadels of the Kingdom They carried seven of them to Sawarine as many to Kapuwarin six to Eberard-Castle and the twenty one that remain were sent to Leopolstadt they were all chained and put into deep and dark Dungeons In all these places they received unheard of Treatments those which were conducted to Berentschin were coupled two and two as they yoke Oxen. They put Irons on their feet all filled with Nails which passed through their shoes and stockings and pierced their very flesh The Prison where they were put was as dark as Hell 't was a low stinking Dungeon full of Excrements Mud Man's Dung Serpents and Toads into which they could not enter but on their hands and knees The Governour of the Cittadel having represented to Colonitsch the Bishop of Newstadt that these Prisoners had not strength enough to suffer such torment and that they would die under it 'T is no matter said the Bishop when they be dead earth enough will be found in the Fields to cover them They took them not thence but to make them carry Wood for the use of the Cittadel and to draw Water from a deep Well Of those which had been conducted to Comorin the most part having suffered the most horrible Prison during the space of many months were so weak as to suffer themselves to be overcome and abandon their Confession There were not in this place above three Confessors that persevered