first Author of that Separation But 't is a ridiculous Chimera to imagine that they were out of the Essential Unity seeing that when they went away they carried with them the true Jesus the true Doctrine and the true Sacraments They were yet the Church they were Christians whatever St. Cyprian says of them and not only their Martyrs obtained the Crown of Martyrdom but their penitent Christians obtained Salvation although they died in Schism There are particular Unities and a general Unity Particular Unity consists in certain Bonds such as are common Ecclesiastick Government common Discipline and certain common Ceremonies You are not in particular Unity with the Episcopal Church of England with respect to Government But this Unity signifies nothing to Salvation he must be a mad man to damn Christians because they either have or have not Bishops The general Unity which consists in the three things which I have said is the only essential necessary and saving Unity If you agree with the Church in Government Discipline and Ceremonies and don 't agree with it in Opinions in Sacraments and Spirit you have no Communion with it if you differ in Government and Discipline and agree in Truths Sacraments and the same Jesus you are at Unity with it and with God. This Vnity of the Church whereof we have now discoursed makes me think of that unity of Souls which ought to prevail among the true Members of the Body of Christ It is the Character under which the Apostolick Church is described unto us They were all of one heart and one mind 'T is this holy Unity which draws down the holy Spirit for when the firy Tongues fell upon the Apostles they were all with one accord assembled in one place 'T is the absence of this holy Unity which in part hath drawn down those unhappy Effects of the Wrath of God under which we now groan Call to mind the Divisions the immortal Hatreds Jealousies Quarrels and Strifes which have been seen in the midst of you even on occasions and in things for which Peace and the Spirit of Charity were particularly requited One was of Paul another of Peter but not one for Jesus Christ Men made their own Passions and Interests to triumph and trampled under foot the Glory of God and the publick Edification The strictest friendships were always ready to break on the first transport of Passion The Spirit of Vengeance had no rest till it had revenged the Injuries it thought it had received and we knew not what it was to sacrifice a resentment to the Love of God and his Christ God has made these civil Wars to cease by a cruel and strange War. You have a common tye more than you have had you have had the same Faith the same Sacraments the same Churches and the same Holy Table besides you have at this day your common Affliction and your common Misfortunes 'T is certain that even in the World this makes a tye among Souls and it should do with far greater reason when men suffer the same grief for the same cause and for the same God. You ought mutually to love each other because you are afflicted for God and by consequence you ought to love those also who suffer for you they are your Confessors who have the glory to maintain in the Prisons those Truths with you have been so weak only to keep close in your Hearts having not the courage to shew them openly Among those which are in divers Prisons of the Realm for the Cause of God there are an infinite number that want all things these are Voices that cry against you to Heaven in a terrible manner and say What a shame is it that Jesus Christ is in Prison that he is Sick Hungry and Thirsty that he freezes with cold during the rigor of the Winter and that these Peters who grew pale at the word of a Servant don't go to visit him to give him Bread and Cloaths You know what will be the Sentence that the Lord will give to such think of it and partake-in the Bonds of your Brethren though they be at the utmost ends of the Kingdom Feb. 1. 1687. The TWELFTH PASTORAL LETTER AN Article of Antiquity The beginning of the History of Christianity of the Fourth and Fifth Ages Of the Original of Monks An Article of Controversie Of the Unity of the Ministry HAving finished the History of the Christianity of the Third Age we enter upon the Fourth We shall not distinguish that of the Fourth and Fifth they are so interwoven that they cannot be separated All the Superstitions false Worship and Corruptions of Discipline which are found established in the Fifth Age took their beginning in the Fourth We enter upon Ages in which the Church had entirely changed its Face it is no longer a persecuted Church it triumphs it reigns it ascends the Throne The Emperors becoming Christians drew along with them by their Authority and Examples an infinite number of Pagans who had that Complaisance and Civility for their Masters as to become Christians But the Church also on her part had the Complaisance to burthen Religion with vain Worship and Ceremonies borrowed from Paganism All that which she thought might be innocently taken from thence she took to draw them over to her The Bishops inrich'd by the Liberality of Constantine and his Successors became proud they would have a distinct Jurisdiction from the Civil they established for themselves Tribunals It appears by the Book of Constitutions falsely ascribed to the Apostles that the Bishops had Flatterers which said of them or rather they said of themselves many incredible proud and impertinent things * Vit. Const lib. 2. cap. 37 38. They set themselves above Kings they said that they must pay them Tributes and Tenths and that Men owed them greater Honors than Kings and that they had power to condemn to everlasting Fire Above all the Pomp and Pride of the Bishops of Rome that ruling City became such that they gave jealousie to the Chief Magistrates of the Empire They added to the Sacraments new Ceremonies an Unction before Baptism beside that which followed after it the Prayers and Ceremonies of the Liturgy of the Eucharist which they call at this day the Mass were much increased and augmented they made use of Holy Waters they consecrated Oyls and Chrism their Funerals were enriched with Ceremonies borrowed from Judaism or Paganism they had their Ninth day their Fortieth day and their yearly Obits or Prayers for the Dead they affixed Prayers to certain hours which at this day they call Canonical the Cock crowing Nine of the Clock Mid-day Three of the Clock and Vespers In these Ages they did essentially alter Divine Service by intermingling therewith the Service of Creatures A kind of Furie for Relicks seized on the Spirits of Men nothing was heard to be spoken of but Visions by which they had been discovered and Miracles which had been done by them they carried
Letters you will find one Article concerning Antiquity and another concerning the Questions of the Church as you will find in this And forasmuch as these Letters ought to be instead of Sermons to you we will joyn unto them some words of Exhortation as often as we can We return therefore to the Letter of Monsieur de Meaux one of the Bishops of Rome We are considering the third Article of his Pastoral Letter This third Article and that which follows will give us an occasion to confute the Sophisms which they make or you make for your selves about the Church The Bishop of Meaux in his Pastoral Letter does six things 1. He endeavours to establish the Idea and Unity of the Church principally upon the Testimony of S. Cyprian and in consequence thereunto the Unity of the Ministers 2. He proves * Page 12. There is none allowed to separate from the Church and that all separate Assemblies are in a state of Damnation †Page 14. so that a Martyr which dies for the Faith of the Church out of this Unity is nevertheless damn'd 3. ‡ Page 13. That we must not examin Opinions to know whether such an Assembly be the Church ‖ Page 14. But we must know if an Assembly be the Church and judg from thence concerning the truth of Opinions 4. He endeavours to answer to that Text Where two or three are gathered together in my Name I will be in the midst of them A Text that proves wherever is Truth there is a True Church and then comes to his Chimera that all Separation ruins Unity a Chimera which he supports by the Testimony of the great S. Cyprian who is indeed his only Author 5. * Page 17. By the same S. Cyprian he proves that the Church with whom we must preserve Union is the Church of Rome or the Chair of S. Peter 6. In conclusion he falls on the common place of the invalidity of the Call of our first Reformers he proves their Vocation invalid because they were either Laicks or Renegado Priests which had renounced the Ministry The first never having Mission the last having it no longer cannot be lawful Pastors This is the Abridgment of a great number of Volumns which have been made to seduce you within twenty years last past concerning which we do intreat you to be attentive to these invincible Arguments which we have to produce for the subversion of these wicked Engins Although we do not account it a Duty to follow precisely the order of the Articles of the Bishop of Meaux Nevertheless seeing he begins with the Unity and Visibility of the Church we will begin there also and we will make you understand 1. What is the true Unity of the Church 2. What is the Unity of its Ministry 3. What is its perpetual Visibility 4. That to separate from a corrupt Church is not to break the Unity thereof 5. That there is such a degree of Corruption that obliges to separation and that the Church of Rome is corrupt to that degree First My Brethren it is necessary that you make to your selves a just and ligitimate Idea of the Unity of the Church They tell you that there is but one Catholick Church and that there cannot be many This is true there is but one Church universal and even the Word Universal that is added thereunto makes it apparent that there can be but one Just after the same manner that the word Universe by which is signified the World signifies also that there is but one for if there were another World besides this ours would not be the Universe seeing it would not comprehend totally all But the Bishop of Meaux and those that are like unto him give you a pleasant Idea of its Unity and Universality both together The Church of Rome say they is this universal and only Church it is universal and yet nevertheless out of it and separate from it there are many other Churches This is just as if I should say our World is the Universe nevertheless there be many other Worlds besides it Is not this absurd But it will be said that these Propositions are not alike nor the same for we mean thereby all other Churches besides the Roman Churches are false Churches This is another absurdity altogether alike as if a person or a man should say 'T is true there are many Worlds besides ours nevertheless ours is the Universe because all the rest are false Worlds If they Church of Rome did say Indeed I am but part of the Church Universal but I am the only sound and entire part the others are sick and diseased where a man cannot be saved If it should speak thus say I it would speak false but it would speak nothing absurd or contradictory and there would be reason to examin its pretensions to the bottom to know if indeed it be the only Church that is sound and without Errors But it must have renounced common sense to avow that out of her Bosom there are many Churches and nevertheless call her self the Church universal However it be her pretension is that the Unity of the Church consists in a certain Communion characterized and distinguished from all others by certain limits and boundaries and under certain Pastors out of which Communion whether you believe in Jesus Christ or not whether you have considerable Errors or no you are always out of the Church and hopes of Salvation altho you should believe and maintain all the truths of the Gospel from the beginning to the end tho you should be Orthodox as S. Paul retaining all the Articles of the Christan Faith yea of the Faith of the Church of Rome if nevertheless you live in separation with this certain Seat and this certain Church which is the Church Catholick you must be certainly damned I intreat you my Brethren before you go further propose a Question to your Converts Tell them I am content to grant there is a certain particular Church in which is that Unity from which we must never separate But how shall I know that this Church in which is that Unity to which we ought to adhere is the Church of Rome for I have heard say that there are many other Churches among others it hath been told me there is a Church in the East called the Greek Church which hath six Patriarchs that is to say for Popes the Bishops of Constantinople Antioch and Alexandria and these do all in like manner Anathematize the Pope of Rome Propose to them say I this difficulty and press it home and you will see them brought into such streights that they can say nothing but impertinences and absurdities They will tell you that Rome is the seat of S. Peter it is to her that this Priviledg was granted all those which separate from her depart from Unity So that the Greek Church and the three Popes whereof we have spoken are out of the Unity Can there be a
obscure Church subject to the Metropolitan of Heraclea a City of Thrace sees her self honored by the presence of the Emperors Constantine carried thither the Sâ—at of the Empire and called it Constantinople after his own Name and obtained for it the Name of New Rome Then the Bishop of Constantinople began also to make use of an Advantage by the Dignity of the City where he was So that instead of three Tyrants in the Church which aspired to make themselves Masters of the Flocks there are found four the Bishop of Rome he of Alexandria he of Antioch and he of Constantinople But as Rome always preserved a Character of Greatness and Preheminence over other Cities because it was the stock and root of the Empire they allowed a Primacy of Order to the Bishop of that city without contradiction And this by so much the more easily as the Spirit which built the Mystery of Iniquity had universally established the Opinion that S. Peter accounted the chief of the Apostles had placed his Episcopal Seat at Rome where he established Successors in such a manner that all Bishops in the World did silently consent to grant this Primacy of Order and of Presidence to the Church of Rome for these two Reasons the first that the City of Rome was the Capital of the Universe the second that the chief of the Apostles had had his Seat there so the Bishop of Rome was acknowledged for the first in order in their Assemblies but without any kind of Power or Jurisdiction over others In the mean time the rest of the Hierarchy was formed after the Model of the Government of the Empire The Rome Empire in the East was divided into Five principal Governments 1. That of the East whereof the Metropolis was Antioch and which extending it self over Syria is called East by distinction from the other Oriental Provinces 2. That of Egypt whose Head was Alexandria 3. That of Pontus whereof the Capital was Caesarea 4. That of Asia whereof the Capital was Ephesus 5. That of Thrace whereof the Metropolis was Constantinople So that these five Cities Antioch Alexandria Caesarea Ephesus and Constantinople were the places where the five great Governors of the Oriental part of the Roman Empire had their abode The Bishops of the same Cities advanced themselves also above the other Bishops of the Provinces and formed five Exarchates i. e. five sorts of Patriarchates independent the one from the other in every one of these Exarchates or Patriarchates there were many Bishops and even many Metropolitans in the sense that the Word is taken at this day The Exarchs of Antioch of Alexandria of Ephesus of Caesarea and of Constantineple every one in his Exarchate was above the Bishops in Government whether they were Metropolitans or simple Bishops so it was in the West also There was in Italy two principal Governments under the Name of Vicarships the Government of Rome and that of Milan for which reason the Bishops of these two Cities imitating the Civil Government advanced themselves also in the Ecclesiastick above the other Bishops of Italy The Bishop of Rome had therefore at that time a Primacy of Order and Presidence as we have observed because of the Preheminence of the City and the false Opinion that had obtained that S. Peter had been Bishop there But he exercised no Act of Jurisdiction or Superiority over others It was not permitted him to receive Appeals nor to make void the Decisions of other Bishops They were not the Bishops of Rome that called General Councils they were the Emperors it was not they that determined Controversies of Faith they were the Councils they could not send out their Interdicts nor Excommunications against other Churches or constrain them to Obedience by any Censure If the Bishops of Rome did separate other Churches from their Communion other Churches also kept themselves separate from their Communion adherence to the Bishop of Rome was of no necessity to obtain the esteem of an Orthodox and Catholick Church and there were Churches in those Ages which continued many Years in separation and without any Communion with the Church of Rome without ever being esteemed either Hereticks or Schismaticks Nevertheless it was in the Fourth Age that the Bishop of Rome did sow the Seeds of his Tyranny and took upon himself to judg those which other Bishops had already censured And this happened chiefly on the occasion of the Troubles which the Heresie of Arrius raised in the Church The Arrians became Masters in the East and drave the Orthodox Bishops from their Seats as Athanasius Bishop of Alexandria Paul Bishop of Constantinople c. These Bishops unjustly deposed and driven away retired themselves into the West where Arrianism had made far less Ravages The Bishops of Milan Rome and the principal Seats of Italy continued Orthodox S. Athanasius and others came into Italy and to Rome to implore the Succour of the Bishop thereof and other Bishops of the West to the end that by their Credit and Authority as well with other Bishops as principally with the Emperors they might be re-established in their Seats The Bishop of Rome receives them treats them as Bishops and declares that he had no regard for the unjust and violent Decisions of the Arrians yea he did all that was in his power to re-place them in their Seats At this time i. e. in the heat of these Controversies stirred up by the Arrians the Bishops of the West which were Orthodox held a Council at Sardis in the Year 347. there to judge the Cause of Athanasius and Paul Bishop of Constantinople In this Council the Bishops of the West observing that the Violences which the Orthodox Bishops of the East had suffered from the hands of Heretick Bishops were without remedy whilst these Heretical Bishops should be absolute Masters they thought fit to make three Canons or Ecclesiastical Rules according to which when a Bishop found himself oppressed by unjust Judgment he might have recourse to Rome that the Bishop of Rome should have power to appoint a review of the Process and for that reason send Deputies on his part which should cause a Synod of the Province to assemble and re-judg the matter a second time that in expectation of this second Judgment the Affairs should remain in suspence and the place of the deposed Bishop should not be filled Behold exactly the fatal Point of the first conception of this tyrannical Power which hath since swallowed up the Church The truth is that the Council of Sardis was made up of Western Bishops which had no power to make Laws for the Eastern Church It is also true that the Churches of the East have always scoffed at the Canons of Sardis and never would receive them It is also true that in the West it self these Canons were not received but very lately and a long time after But 't is also true that since that time the Bishops of Rome have never ceased to make
Foundation upon which we at this day exhort you to make to your selves no longer a frightful Phantome of the Authority of the Pope Surely the Gallican Church in all this takes great steps in your favour and you are obliged unto them for it But yet there remains one without which all the rest are absolutely nothing and that is to break with the Pope We are preparing a Work in which we pretend to make it plain to these Gentlemen that they cannot dispense with themselves from finishing that which they have begun and that in the Estate in which their Divinity concerning it is at this day they ought to consider the Pope as the greatest and the most hateful Usurper A Point of Controversie A Continuation of the matter of Schism Although the Corruption of the Roman Church were not extreme yet it would not be lawful for us to return thither Objections of the new Converts about it MY Brethren in the preceding Letter we have made it appear that although we had been in the wrong in our Separation and that the Church of Rome had not been corrupt you would not wholly hazard your Salvation by continuing out of it I am at present to make it appear that the Church of Rome being corrupt with far greater reason you need fear nothing by not returning thither again But for the greater illustration of this matter let us suppose two sorts of corruption the one in some sort tolerable and the other wholly intolerable Let us argue upon the first and suppose that Persons separate themselves from a Church which hath Errors in Doctrine which nevertheless retains the Fundamentals in their Integrity which hath Superstitions and those very great in its Worship but which is no formally Idolatrous Those which separate from such a Church had done better if they had made no Separation They ought to have attempted all sorts of methods to have reformed their Church Those Remedies not succeeding but exasperating the evil they ought to exercise Patience and to expect a more favourable time for Reformation But supposing that whilst these men employ methods of Softness matters insensibly grow warm and fierce by the Contentions of Men a thing which happens almost always and necessarily supposing say I that the fierceness and heat of the one and the other Party thrust on things to an entire Rupture and Schism do you believe that the Party which separates it self from the main Body and embraces a Religion more pure than that which it left is obliged to return to the corrupt Party from which it is separated Not at all It may and ought to say If things had proceeded otherways 't is true we could have born for a while those Corruptions which are in some sort tolerable but things by the Providence of God happening thus we will stay where we are and keep our selves in that Purity which we have chosen and not return to the corruption which we have forsaken I do maintain that this separated Church had reason and were not obliged to return It were not obliged to return for Salvation for having carried Christianity with it yea having purged it it would be sure that a man might be saved in its Communion It will not be obliged for Edification for 't is not for Edification that being in a pure Church we should joyn our selves to another Church which we believe impure and is really so I go farther and maintain That such a separate Church were obliged not to return to its corrupt stock For when God hath separated us from corruption although this corruption be not extreme we are obliged to keep far from it 'T is true that Preservation of Peace is worth much but 't is a good thing which must not be purchased at the price of Truth Schism which is making and in action makes a great noise and gives great scandal for which reason I have said that when the corruption of a Church is in some sort tolerable it were better to suffer it than to make a violent Separation but the continuation of a Separation is not of the same scandal Custom reconciles us to every thing and the scandal of such a continuation is not so great that we should sacrifice important Truths for the sake thereof Let us at present apply these Reflections to the Subject that we are debating and do the Church of Rome that favour to suppose for one moment as true that which is very false viz. that her corruption is in some sort tolerable that she hath Errors but doth not ruine Fundamentals that she is Superstitious but not Idolatrous Let us suppose also that for this reason our Fathers did not do ill in continuing for some time in the Roman Church and exercising Patience therein But let us consider at the same time that things did not take this course there that the Providence of God did otherwise dispose thereof Our Fathers did their duty in demanding a Reformation they were obliged thereunto altho the corruption were in that degree where we suppose it i. e. tolerable But whilst the one demanded Reformation with Zeal and the other refused it with Passion a Separation is made There came Anathema's from Rome and Thunders from the Temporal Powers with Fires and Gibbets c. which took from us the liberty of remaining there It signifies nothing who had right or wrong in the manner of Separation however it were behold it done Now I maintain my Brethren the thing being done neither Edification Conscience Honour nor your Salvation can suffer you to re-enter into the Roman Church although you should suppose that her corruption is not extreme but in some sort tolerable First of all your Edification will not permit it You suppose that the Worship of Images the Invocation of Saints the Adoration of the Eucharist c. are at least great Superstitions how doth the Edification of the Church permit you to partake in all these things The Edification of the Church obliges you to do all that you can to purge it from these Superstitions and your returning to a Union with the Roman Church is a proper means to confirm all Men in them Conscience will not permit it neither for being convinced that they are Superstitions although you believe them in some sort tolerable you ought to have no more part in them 'T is a kind of Sin against the Holy Ghost to sin against Conscience and the Illuminations which God gives to you and that which would be a small fault in a state of Ignorance and Error becomes a great crime when 't is committed against knowledge so although the Invocation of Saints were but a little fault in an ignorant and a prejudiced Papist it is certain that in you 't is a heinous crime because you know the evil thereof Don't say that you do not invocate Saints for you do invocate them in the publick Service wherein you do partake and that is enough I add that neither will Honour
St. Chrysostom and St. Austin Sermons or Works that are none of theirs and a man needs but indifferent Learning and little Sincerity to be convinced thereof But Father Crasset who has neither the one nor the other neither Skill nor Science takes and gives all for good In the Fifth Age he quotes Cyril of Alexandria who is surely one of the first which gave occasion to the Religious Worship of the Virgin. For by opposing Nestorius who would not suffer Mary to be called the Mother of God he passed unto the other extreme and advanced as far and as high as he could the praises of the Virgin Mary Nevertheless this might be reduced to Apostrophes Figures of Oratory and great Elogies but there is nothing of Invocation therein No Author of the Fifth Age speaks more expresly nor vehemently of the Invocation of Martyrs and of the Worship which is given to the Reliques than Theodoret. Nevertheless in the passage which Father Crasset quotes from him in his Commentary on the words of Solomon's Song My beloved is one there is nothing that favours the Worship of the Virgin in the least He applies these words My Dove my only one to the Virgin and that were the place to speak of the honour which ought to be given to her if ever there were any But all that he says concerning her is that she is the Mother of God a pure Virgin that all Nations call her blessed that she is the Dove and the only one which brought Christ Jesus into the World that in Charity she surpasses the Cherubims and Seraphims That were the place to have said that we ought to commend ourselves to her Charity and invoke her as our Mediatrix To conclude let these Gentlemen find us in the Fourth and Fifth Ages Chappels and Oratories consecrated to the Virgin as they find them consecrated to the Martyrs unless it be about the end of the Fifth age Now this being supposed I dare say that a man must have renounced all honour all modesty all sincerity and all judgment not to confess that here is an indubitable evidence that Invocation of Saints was a Novelty in the Fourth and Fifth Ages For these men had been fools not to have invoked the Virgin in those times when they invoked St. Protais and St. Gervais if they established Invocation upon the merit the dignity and the reputation that these Saints might have with God. I would fain know if those two Giants which suffered Martyrdom under Decius were in condition to intercede with God with so much efficacy as this Virgin-Mother to the Saviour of the World This false Worship had its birth from that foolish love which men had for Reliques And as they had no Reliques of the blessed Virgin so they consecrated no Churches or Chappels to her and in consequence thereof they did not call upon her We shall bring you yet in what follows new Proofs of the Novelty of this Worship An Article of Controversie A Continuation of the Answer to the Illusions of the New Converts LEt us take up again at present what follows of the Illusions which the New Converts make for themselves who endeavour to lay their Consciences asleep They conclude two things 1. That all the fundamental Truths of Christianity being Confessed by the Church of Rome they are obliged to remain with her so you go on These fundamental Truths which Popery hath preserved are the Articles of the Three Creeds that of the Apostles that of Niece or Constantinople and that which is call'd by the name of St. Athanasius 'T is true that the Church of Rome hath retained these but to conceive how you cheat yourselves I intreat you to suppose Christians which receive these three Creeds and who nevertheless Adore the Sun the Moon the Earth and almost all the Idols of Paganism you will say that these things are inconsistent But you deceive yourselves for there is nothing more possible than that that a man should believe God is the Creatour of Heaven and Earth that Jesus Christ is his eternal Son and the Creatour of the World that he was Born that he Died that he was Crucified that he will come to Raise and Judge the Living and the Dead and nevertheless that he should believe that we may Adore the Earth the Trees the Sun and Moon because God does animate and fill them The Greed says not that we must Worship none but God yea it says not that we must Worship him So that a Religion may receive the Creed in good earnest in the sence of the Universal Church and adore every thing but God Why may not men be capable of Adoring the Stars because God fills them since they Adore Bread under a supposition that Jesus Christ is there after a manner invisible precisely as God is in the Stars and Elements It is therefore a particular Providence that Christians who Adore the Eucharist are not fallen so far as to Adore the Sun Moon and Stars for I do maintain that the Papists may be carried to Adore a Stone as naturally as they are carried to Adore the Bread in the Eucharist on supposition that Jesus Christ is included under it Suppose you that they were come so far would you yet say Since all the fundamental Truths are Confessed by this Communion which Adore the Sun and Moon yea Stones we are obliged to continue with it Learn you therefore that we may retain the fundamental Truths of Christianity and build thereon Dung Poison and all sorts of Impurities The spirit of Man is capable of reconciling those things that are molt irreconcileable Behold another thing whereof you ought to be advertised that you ought to distinguish fundamental Truths from fundamental Errours You imagine that to retain all the fundamental Truths and to have no fundamental Errours is the same thing and because we do confess the Roman Church retains all the fundamental Truths you think that we confess to you that she has no fundamental Errours In this you are much mistaken a person may retain the fundamental Truths of Christianity and add thereunto fundamental Errours I gave you an Example in men who might believe the Creed in good earnest in the sence of the Church and which might add under a hundred false pretences of Devotion Pagan Idolatries I do maintain that a man may adopt into the Religion of Christians almost all the Abominations of the Bonzes of Japan and the Brachmns of India without any formal Renunciation of the Doctrine of the Christian Faith. I demand if whilst men retain the fundamental Truths they do not add fundamental Errours by espousing these Pagan Worship 'T is exactly that which the Church of Rome has done upon the Foundations of Christianity she hath built a thousand Superstitions which are purely Pagan Popery is Paganism renewed and built upon Christianity 't is an Idol Temple raised upon the Temple of Jesus Christ. A fundamental Errour is therefore an Errour or Practice which
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
naturally it cannot happen that a person should be on those Instruments of Torment without feeling very great pains But 't is a Miracle which hath a hundred and a hundred Examples in the History of the Martyrs both of the ancient Church and that of the Reformation They bring back our Martyr to the place where he was to prepare himself for death he dined because they would have it so and whilst he was eating he said to those that gave him his meat very calmly Others eat to live and I eat to die this is the last Repast that I shall take upon earth but against the Evening there is prepared a Banquet in the Heavens to which I am invited and whither I shall be conducted by the Angels These happy Spirits will suddenly remove me to make me partaker with them of the Delights of Paradise The rest of the day they let loose upon him many Monks who received no other Fruits of their Assaults but disappointment and confusion Amidst all those Distractions into which they endeavoured to cast him he employed himself in singing of Psalms in lifting up his Soul to God and presenting fervent Prayers to him About the Evening as he went forth of the Prison to go to Execution two Monks drew near to him saying We are here to accompany and comfort you He answered them I have no need of you I have a Comforter that is more faithful and which is within me for my Consolation I have a Guard of Angels round about my Person and which have assured me they will be with me to my last Breath He marched toward the place of Execution with an appearance of satisfaction and tranquillity of Spirit visible to all the Spectators and having observed some of our Brethren that were fallen pouring out floods of tears while they saluted him said to them Weep not for me but weep for your selves I shall be soon out of Sufferings and far from this Vale of Tears but I see and leave you there In the name of God recover and repent and he will have pity upon you When he was in a place and distance that he could see the Gibbet where he was to end his Combat he cryed out with transport of Joy Be strong be strong this is the place which I long since proposed to my self and for which God himself hath prepared me how welcome doth this place appear to me I there see the Heavens open to receive me and Angels coming to accompany me thither He would afterward have sung a Psalm as he drew near to the Gibbet but the Judges which saw that the Crowd was moved and pierced by the signs and tokens of his constancy imposed silence on him and forbad him to sing He obeyed because they constrained him and arriving to the Foot of the Ladder he said Oh how welcome is this Ladder to me sine it must serve me as a step to finish my course and mount to Heaven They permitted him to say his Prayers at the Foot of the Ladder And when he was ascended he saw Monks ascending after him which obliged him to repel them saying Retire I have told you and I tell you again I have no need of your succor I receive enough from my God to enable me to take the last step of my Journey He would have gone on and given a Reason of his Faith to that innumerable Crowd of People above which he was raised But they feared the effect of a Sermon preached from such a Pulpit and by such a Preacher They well foresaw that he would speak and therefore had set round about the Gibbet many Drums which they appointed to be beaten at once 'T is a new kind of Gag which is not altogether so frightful as that of another kind but produces the same effect The Spirit of Hell is always the same and hath always the same fears He hath often felt the force of those Preachers which preach from Gibbets and out of the Piles of Wood he fears their Eloquence and judges it most safe to impose silence on them Our Martyr therefore speaks not but for himself but his Countenance his Eyes his Hands bespeak his Courage his Faith and Constancy and this Language was so effectual that the Village of Beaucaire altho wholly plunged in darkness and prejudices for Popery was moved thereby in an extraordinary manner I do very earnestly wish that three or four sorts of persons would make Reflections on this death 1. The Enemies of Truth Is it possible that they cannot observe therein the Character of true Religion I do conjure them to consider what most resembles Jesus Christ and his Apostles whether a Man that dies as we have seen this young Man die or persons which cause him to die for his Religion and because he would not renounce it 2. I set this Object before the Eyes of the new Converts who being seduced either by their Passions or Illusions behold the Religion which they have left as abominable and such wherein the Spirit of God is not to be found can they well persuade themselves that so much Courage so much Piety so much Constancy so much Moderation so much Sweetness doth proceed from him who is the Father of Lies and the Fountain of Abominations If it be the Spirit of God which produces these miraculous effects in our Martyrs then our Religion is not deprived of it then God has not forsaken us then we are not out of his Church out of which there is neither Grace nor Holy Spirit To conclude I demand here the attention of the weak of those Men who bless themselves because they yet preserve the Truth in their Hearts and which perswade themselves that the Fault which they have committed in subscribing is very light I demand of them are not you obliged to do what this Martyr has done Has he given to God more than he owed him Who is he that is not obliged to seal and confirm the Truth by his Sufferings You have withdrawn your selves from paying that which you have received from God in the opportunities which he has offered you And you have withdrawn your selves by a faulty weakness and negligence by a lye both of Heart and Hand In what estate should we be if God had not left us a Remnant We should be like unto Sodom and Gomorrah we should not have had one Martyr i. e. one Witness of the Truth of our Lord Jesus You will say all are not capable of suffering Martyrdom At least confess then that you are in this respect in a great degree of Imperfection and that your Fault is great Don't justifie your selves at all recover your selves by Repentance if you would that God should pardon you I have given you the History of the Vigor which our Brethren of Languedoc have had to continue their Assemblies without interruption and thereby expose themselves to Martyrdom and Death with design to convince you of that which I have proved in
had heard the Voices they told me it seemed to them it was from the place called the Posterle I told them I came from thence and that I had heard those Voices in the Air and that it seemed to me that they came from that side the New Mill stood and both they and I agreed with one consent that they were in the Air and that they never had heard Voices so pleasant and charming My Father being a Neighbor of the said Mademoiselle des Pagnou and those other Women being at the Gate two hours after midnight with a Marshal named Maresque a Papist of the Town of Lembege of the Quarter of Bilbil which belongs to the Partement of Navarre my Father I say who had changed his Religion about two years and half since inquiring of these Women if they had heard the singing of Psalms They answered Yea. And I too said my Father And Maresque the Marshal replyed he had never heard better singing let Men say what they will for my part said he I am persuaded that it is a true singing of Psalms The said Monsieur Poey my Father and the said Maresque came from a place called De Part near to Orthez And I add that I have heard a Prohibition published to all sorts of persons at the sound of a Trumpet by the Cryer of the City called Monleres containing that none were to go out at night to hear the singing of Psalms under the penalty of Imprisonment In witness whereof I have signed the present Certificate as it was desired of me Given November 22 1686. Signed Peter Mauperg of Orthez in Bearn aged twenty three years One named Monsieur Bergerit hath declared under his Signet this which follows About the month of September last being in my Mothers House she told me that the Evening before they had heard singing of Psalms in the Air. I believ'd nothing thereof but went away to Bed because I was weary this was about eight at night about half an hour after some of the Neighbors came to the House to inquire whether I were so great a fool to sing Psalms considering the strict Prohibition had been made thereof and at the same instant my Mother entered into the Chamber to awake and tell me that Psalms were sung in the Air. I awoke and awaking heard this singing of Psalms and thought it had been in the Garden belonging to the House I arose and went forth into the street Montcade at Orthez where all the Neighborhood were gathered together and they heard the singing of Psalms repeated two or three several times Signed Bergerit A person named John de la Bordette hath declared under his Signet this which follows About the month of September last being in my House at Orthez the place of my Habitation and having heard that it was said that Psalms were sung I went out into the street about eight in the Evening to see and hear what was said and done and I heard in the Air Voices which formed a Vocal Musick perfectly like to the singing of Psalms Nevertheless without being able to distinguish what Psalm it was Of the of this same thing many persons of the Neighbourhood were witnesses Another time as I was at the Wine Press amidst the Vines above ten in the evening I heard the same thing with many other persons Signed John De la Bordette A Damosel called Mademoiselle Deformalagues hath declared under her Signet in these words I underwritten do declare in the presence of God that being at Orthez in Biar the place of my Habitation I heard clearly at three several times on the month of October last this which follows On a Friday in the said month of October about 8 or 9 at night being in my Chamber some Neighbours called me with earnestness saying that I must hasten to hear the Angels singing Psalms I hastily went out of the House and being arrived at the Street called St. Gille I there found a great number of people which had ran together from all parts to hear this Heavenly Musick And at that instant my Ears were smitten with a Melody so ravishing that I never heard any thing like it I could very well discern the Air and Tune of our Psalms which were sung admirably well I heard many persons say they heard distinctly the first verse of the 42. Psalm Like as the hart doth breach and bray There were others that confirmed the same and assured us moreover that they had heard the whole Psalm Sung. For my part I do acknowledg that I could not distinguish the words I only heard a charming Musick which represented to me a great number of Voices that agreed exceeding well There was one that raised his Voice above the rest and made himself observed when the rest had done After I had heard a long while this Melody with ravishment I perceived that these Voices drew off and abated by little and little until they were insensibly lost in the Air. The same evening being on my return and near the Gate of my House with many of my Neighbours as we discoursed together of the marvellous things that we had heard behold all of a sudden the same Voices which we had heard some hours before striking again our Ears with great pleasure they filled us anew with ravishment for the space of one quarter of an hour after which this Melody withdrew as it had done at the first The Tuesday following being at the door of my House with one of my Relations at Evening we both heard a great number of Voices in the Air which resounded with strength and made themselves heard with the greatest clearness hearing this melodious singing I ran hastily to the Lodgings of a Popish Physician who dwelt in my House and was that year one of the Magistrates of Orthez to the end that he himself might hear this wonderful Melody He followed me to hear what it was The singing founded clearly the night being calm and serene but he pretended to hear nothing A while after the Voices reinforced themselves and then having pressed this Magistrate to tell me if he heard the singing he could no longer dissemble the truth It is true said he in the presence of all the world I hear very lovely singing I think I hear the Voice of such an one and such an one naming several persons in Orthez which sung exceeding well to this I replyed Monsieur if Men hold their peace the very stones will speak but he as if he had been troubled at the confession he had made complains that alas I observe here a crafty wile of the Devil he causes these Voices to be heard in the Air to keep the World in error and hinder this poor people from Converting and embracing the Catholick Faith. Whereupon I inquired if he had ever heard that the Devil sung the praises of God he smiled and retired hastily to his Lodgings nevertheless we bless God for the favor that he hath done us in
Non-elect and Reprobates so that it is absurd that God should cause his Gospel to be preached to a herd of Reprobates among which there is not one person on whom the Word can produce its effect It will be therefore in vain that God should preserve Christians in all the East and South for these Christians being out of the saving Unity will be damned just in the same manner as if they were Pagans Fourthly The Schism of the Ten Tribes gives us a convincing Proof that in Schismatical Churches every single Person is not in a state of Damnation Jeroboam separated ten Tribes from the other two he would not suffer them to go up to Jerusalem but engaged them in a formal Schism nevertheless God there preserved both Prophets as Elijah and Elisha and a multitude of Persons which he affirmed to be his own because they had not bowed the knee to Baal There is therefore no particular Church that has reason to boast it self of having Unity alone to the prejudice of all other Churches Fifthly The truth is that on one side the Jews converted to Christianity in the time of the Apostles and on the other side the Pagan Converts lived in a true Schism for these Jewish Christians would have no Communion with the converted Pagans nevertheless they did not mutually damn each other therefore we ought not to damn those which live in Schism whatever it be The converted Jews had considerable Errors they observed the Law and would retain Circumcision with all their might Things incompatible with Christianity as S. Paul declares so positively as to say If any one be circumcised Christ should profit him nothing nevertheless God suffers and saves them with considerable Errors It is not therefore true that the Church is shut up in one sole Communion and that every Error damns when we separate from a Society that is justly called the Church but it 's true that remaining in a Society bearing that Name we may nevertheless be damned when there are mortal Errors there as there are in the Church of Rome Sixthly Ask your Converters who would oblige you to return to the Church of Rome on pain of Damnation under pretence that Unity is in that Church alone ask them I say whether they would pronounce that all the Greek Christians of whom there are millions are damned for this only reason because they will not adhere to the Roman Church who alone has Unity in her possession If they have the front to say yea ask them if they acknowledge the Greeks for Christians They will also also answer you yea pursue and press them by asking how God can abandon to eternal Damnation an infinite number of Christians who according to the Church of Rome hold no Capital Errors and are only mistaken in things of small consequence If the Papists boast of the consent of all Christians of other Communions and particularly of the Geeks in the Invocation of Saints in the Adoration of Images in the Doctrine of Transubstantiation the real Presence and Adoration they do therefore hold all that the Church of Rome esteems necessary to Salvation why therefore will they damn them for little things and for this alone that they will not live in this pretended Unity To compleat the confusion of your Converters by themselves on the subject of this Unity out of which we are departed Ask them if this Unity be not a certain circle in which the true Church is enclosed They will answer you yea proceed to ask them Whether this certain Circle of Unity has not its Centre that is to say a certain eminent Church to which all the rest ought to have their Relation to the end that they may be within the ciâ—cle of Unity they will also answer you yea and they will add that the Pope or Bishop of Rome is this centre of Unity Monsieur de Meaux finds a way to secure himself from the Thunders of Rome by frequent repeating this and indeed this Supposition according to their Hypothesis is of absolute necessity for if this Circle of Unity have no Centre of Adherence it vanishes immediately a man will always be able to say with good reason To what Church would you that I should adhere is it to that of Paris or that of Toledo These are particular Churches which may err if therefore the Pope be ruined if the necessity of Adherence to the Pope be removed the circle of Unity perishes with him which they call the centre of Unity Now observe that at this day the Divines of the French Church your Converters ruine the Pope from head to foot they take away the centre of Unity and by destroying the centre they destroy the circle 'T is to this that so many modern Writings of Maimbourgh Gerbas Noel Alexander made after the Kings Declarations and the Definitions of the Bishops on this Subject or in prospect of them do tend But the Gallican Church never spake so openly as she hath done but a little while fince by the Pen of a Doctor of the Sorbonne called Elias Pin touching the ancient Discipline of the Church Those among you my Brethâ—en which do not understand the Latin Tongue may consuâ—t those that do and they will inform you that in this Book may be read 1. That the Bishop of Rome had originally no power over other Churches 2. That in the first Institution of Patriarchs he had no power but over the Suburbicane Provinces that is to say those near to Rome 3. That the Popes by little and little ruined the Rights of the Metropolitan Bishops and by Usurpation ascribed them to themselves 4. That the Pope has no right to review and finally judge the Causes determined by the Bishops 5. That the Priviledges which the See of Rome at this day enjoys are not by divine Right but either by Usurpation or the Concession of Councils 6. That to be a good Catholick and a good Christian it is in no wise necessary in many Occurrences to adhere to the See of Rome 7. That the Primacy of the Church which the Pope possesses appertains not to him but by a tolerated Usurpation or as a Priviledge granted by Councils This gives him no character of Infallibility nor the right of judging finally and above Councils Behold exactly the Divinity of the Gallican Church at this day for this man in the view of the Court had not written thus without its Order Behold also the centre of Unity intirely subverted and so subverted as it was by Calvin and Luther This being so why do these Gentlemen everlastingly beat upon your ears about their Unity and the centre of Unity There is no more Unity in the Church of Rome since there is no centre of it there for since adherence to the Pope is no farther necessary to be a true Christian you are not departed from Unity and Christianity by departing from the Communion of the Pope observe therefore thereon that Monsieur de Meaux and your
persevere in the Confession of the Truth the most part of whom never appeared so zealous as some of those who are fallen and flatter themselves because God has given them the opportunity of going out of the Kingdom and recovering themselves in a Country of Liberty and Freedom I do not call this Perseverance I commend the prudence of those which secure themselves but to account it their honour and reputation I cannot They sacrifice their Country their Wives their Children their Goods and their Ease I confess it and 't is true that is much But what will not a man give for his life Every one will give skin for skin and all that he has for his life but put forth thine hand and touch his bone and his flesh and he will curse thee to thy face He who hath not suffered thus far hath not as yet given sufficient proof of his love for the Truth What shame and abatement of glory do these weak ones bring to our glorious Confessors who reckon their lapse and fall for a thing of naught According to them our Martyrs are fools and obstinate persons who suffer for a trifle for a signature and subscription which is required of them which when they have given they may save themselves by going out of the Kingdom Alas if this fault be so small a thing why do the holy Champions of God suffer so many Evils to avoid it Is it the Spirit of God which inspires them with this Courage If it be God that is the cause of this Holy Perseverance to what Spirit may we attribute this cowardize of refusing to Jesus Christ our Bodies to glorifie his Name and do honour to his Truth All that these poor Wretches say to us is this If you had been in our place it may be you would have done no better than we have done This may be true but is it a lawful Excuse Is the Crime the less because we are all capable of committing it I complain therefore but do not rigorously condemn those who have been so weak as to yield by Persecution provided they sigh and lament in the secret of their own Souls acknowledging and confessing their fault and their sin But I confess I am not able to bear those who after they have received much have returned so little and who being persons of great understanding have had so little stability and courage and cannot yet confess the fault they have committed is verâ— great and hainous The first of May 1687. The Eighteenth PASTORAL LETTER A. M. D. J. Vpon occasion of an Act falsely ascribed to the Synod of Montpazier in Perigort by which they would prove that in the year 1659. the Reformed of Lower Guyenne did Treat with the English about their entring into France and delivering several Places in the Kingdom into their hands Monsieur YOU have thought that the Accusation which Soulier the Priest hath renewed against the Protestants of France does deserve that we interrupt the course of our Pastoral Letters to give the Publick a small Apology concerning it And indeed seeing we do employ our selves in refuting errors in matters of Right for the justification of our holy Religion we maâ— and ought to confute errours in matters of Fact for the justification of persons who make profession of this Religion So that I yield to your Reasons and at this time shall make an Apology for our selves against this barbarous and inhumane Accusation And first I advertise the Publick that they give attention to the business about which we are now to treat for they will see one of the most famous Impostures that the eyes of him who seeth all things ever did behold they will see what is the Spirit of the Religion which for so long time we have opposed they will know what our Persecutors are capable of I Know not what cheating Priests and Apostate Ministers did forge some years since an Act in the Name of the Synod of Lower Guyenne which was held at Montpazier in the year 1659. on the first of July and some days following that they might perswade that the Reformed of that Province did at that time treat with the English about giving them entrance into the Kingdom and delivering into their Hands all those places of which they could make themselves Masters This piece of Forgery appeared at that time when they laboured with an incredible Heat to thrust the Reformed of France with all the speed they could to their utmost Ruine 'T was all this time that all the World to please the Court thought it a Duty to endeavour by all sorts of Accusations to render them Odious All places were full of Books and Libels against Calvinism endeavouring to shew the Impurities of its Birth the Horrors of its Life the Furies of its Conduct the Civil Wars that it did occasion the Spirit of Rebellion wherewithal it is animated the Dangers in which it engaged the Crown the Precipices to the very borders whereof it carried the Realm its divers attempts against the Persons of our Kings and the State. All then was well received which promoted the principal end of the Clergy and Court of France And 't was to animate the King to a speedy execution of his Design that this piece was forged This Conspiracy of the Synod of Monpazier which was sufficiently new was the most proper means in the World to swell and inlarge the Libels which were made against the Reformed Nevertheless no Writer would own or assert this Villainous Piece because 't was visible to be bad Mettal Mr. Maimbourg was not a person scrupulous in the value and worth of his Testimonies when he endeavoured to support what he had advanced and this pretended Conspiracy of Montpazier was a Testimony sufficiently good it seems to me to prove the Thesis which he had endeavoured to defend in his History of Calvinism 't is that the Spirit of Violence Fury and Rebellion is the Soul of our Religion Nevertheless neither he nor Mr. Arnald in his Apology for the Catholicks nor Mr. Feure who came sine did ever dare to hazard their Reputation on a Calumny so evident and an Accusation so ill proved and established I intreat you judge whether it be true as they pretend that the Court had the Act and the Proof of this Conspiracy in their hands that the resolution of Montpazier in its Original had been put into the hands of the King by Mr. Joly Bishop of Agen and by the Cardinal Bouillon and that the Court had judged the piece true Consider say I whether Mr. Maimbourgh who writ by the Order of the Court and on purpose to make Calvinism Odious would have had no knowledge or cognizance of it And in case he had known or understood it is it not plain and clear that he would have made use of it if he had thought it good and valuable But at last a Person is found fit to serve as a Godfather to this Reprobate and Bastard-Child
the Poet said Furor arma ministrat Fury finds Arms and when they have no Cities they will take them There is some probability that Mr. Soulier knows how to read Latin for he hath transcribed three words thereof and this makes much to his honour against the Accusation of his Master Mesnier and Mr. Le Feure We answer to Mr. Soulier that we cannot warrant all the thoughts of other men but though it should be true that there were yet some reason to fear the Reformed as much abased and subjected as they are because Fury furnishes Arms yet there was no reason to fear them in the time of the Synod of Montpazier because then there was nothing which might move their Rage Lambs become Lions when they are run against the Walls The despair into which they thrust the Reformed might indeed have furnished them with Arms if God had not prevented those unhappy Commotions But it was impossible that the condition in which they were in 1659. should put them into that despair which puts them upon any thing and makes them sometimes successful therein An tighth Argument of Falshood and its Defence against the Wrangles of Soulier We drew an invincible Argument of Falshood against this wicked Piece from the Silence of the Court The King knew many Years since by the means of Joly Bishop of Agen and the Cardinal of Bouillion That they had formed a horrid Conspiracy in Guyenne against his State he knew the Authors thereof they were yet alive but he said nothing of it he did not chastise those who had made this bold Attempt He complained not of it any where and from whence comes this Spirit of Patience Have they forgiven the least fault to the Reformed for the space of twenty Years Have they not laid to their charge a thousand false Crimes Have they not had an open Ear for all their Accusors Have they not punished them severely for Faults falsely imputed and ill proved And would they neglect the punishment of Treason in him that was Principal therein who will believe it and whom can Soulier perswade of the truth of it Besides at what time was this Observe it was at a time in which they had sworn the Ruine of the Protestants in which they earnestly wished to find them culpable in which they did even all that can be imagined to make them so Was there any thing so much desired by the Clergy and the Court as to have a small occasion to say Seeing that our said Subjects have always persevered in a Spirit of Faction and Rebellion even in the times when they intirely enjoyed our Favour under the benefits of our Edicts as appears by the Conspiracy of Montpazier This would have been conveniently inserted in the Edict which revokes that of Nantes but there is nothing like it seen there they give no other reason there But that the greatest and the best part of our Subjects of the said Reformed Protestant Religion had embraced the Catholick so that the Edict of Nantes and all that had been granted in favour of the said Reformed Protestant Religion continues to no purpose It is very much worthy of Observation that only two Years before in the time when the utter Destruction of the Reformed was resolved the King gives a publick Testimony to their-Fidelity 't is in the Act of Oblivion granted to the pretended Rebels of Dauphine that is to say to those poor Men who were willing to pray to GOD upon the Ruine of their Churches without doing injury to any one but also without desires of being troubled there The King say I in the Oblivion which he granted to these men says The immoveable Fidelity of all our other Subjects of the said Religion hath inclined us rather to entertain thoughts of Clemency than of Rigour towards the Guilty How could it be that the Court should have such apprehensions of the Fidelity of the Protestants of the Kingdom if it had in its hand an Act capable of convincing them of desiring to expose the Kingdom as a prey to Strangers And if it had them not but knew well the Conspiracy of Montpazier and gave credit to it what could oblige it to insert a Clause so false in this Act of Oblivion I know very well that Kings in these fort of Acts pretend themselves satisfied oftentimes with persons which they do commend at that very season when they are least satisfied with them But it is when there is something to fear 't is when they would oblige men to lay down their Arms who are in a condition to make themselves feared and when actually and indeed they are afraid of them But I intreat you what is it that the King with 200000 Men in Arms without any foreign Wars hath to fear of a thousand or twelve hundred Peasants of Dauphine Vivarets and Cevennes of whom they had already massacred more than two thirds If Soulier can reconcile this with a pretended perswasion that the Court hath of the truth of the Conspiracy of Montpazier he will do us a kindness to do it But saith he the conclusion which they draw from the silence of the Court is no proof that it doubts the truth of this Act the liberty which the King hath given me of defending my self and maintaining it is an indisputable proof that his Majesty doth not doubt thereof A very fine proof The King hath permitted Soulier to defend this Piece therefore it is true and he believes 't is so First the King it may be knows not who this Soulier is and 't is known that these kind of Permissions pass by the means of a Father Confessour or some other Ecclesiastick who says concerning it what he pleases being much assured that he shall never be reprehended for it Besides behold a great Wonder that they suffer such a man as Soulier is to hazard his Reputation If he succeed to perswade this pretended Conspiracy of Montpazier with good luck the Court will always gain thereby and 't will be a reason and pretence to justifie its Conduct If he does not succeed therein the shame will remain upon him alone no name or person of Quality appears therein the hurt will not be great 'T is thus that men reason naturally in the World So that the Permission which the Court gives him to defend the truth of this Conspiracy is so far from being a mark of the value they have for him that 't is a proof they look on him as a Wretch which they abandon and leave as forlorn Let him shew us any man of Reputation which joyns with him in this Cause There is nothing more pleasant than to see the Value and Reputation which this Priest Soulier puts upon himself He demanded leave from the Court says he to defend himself and the King was pleased to permit it And speaking of an Author which goes for a person a little more able than he If this Writer expects I should do him the Honour
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