SOURCE Translated and published in 1689.
- Forced Conversion to Roman Catholicism, as well as its complicit persecution, torture and execution of dissidents contradicts the true Spirit of Christianity.
- The Roman Catholic Church is not infallible, nor is it the ultimate authority on all matters.
- The Contradictions of Roman Catholic Doctrine against what Scripture teaches is no small matter, despite what Billy Graham, Modern Ecumenists and the French converts say.
- Protestants remain in Unity with the true Church.
- The true idea of Schism: We so-called ‘Schismatics’ are not out of the Church.
- Jurieu responds to those who believe it acceptable and right to remain in communion with the Roman Church despite its grave errors.
- Although the Church of Rome retains the fundamental Creeds of Christianity, she denies these fundamental truths by adding fundamental errors; thus, the need to separate.
- Many were saved before the Protestant Reformation due to the miraculous mercy of God.
- In the Roman Church it is impossible to worship God without worshiping Idols. The Antichrist Pope and Clergy exposed.
- Roman Priests preach lies.
- Roman Catholic worship is Pagan at its core, requiring our separation.
- An answer to the accusation that without Miracles Protestantism is proven false and not of God.
These Gentlemen rejoice at the Facility they have found in bringing back the Protestants to their Church, that is to say, in forcing Subscriptions from an infinite number of Persons, who have conceded either to their threatening’s, or the fear of losing their Estates, or the torments and persecution of the Dragoons. When they tell you at this day, If your Religion were true, you would adhere more closely unto it; answer them, If our Religion had been false, they would never have had so invincible an Adherence to it, and so strong a Passion for it, nor had they ever suffered death for the defense of it. Behold already, my dear Brethren, many things that you have to oppose to those Words of the Bishop of Meaux, I do not wonder that you are returned in Troops, and with so much facility to the Church. But this is not all; Set him matter of fact against this pretended Facility, and assure him, that for more than four months’ time there have been Assemblies almost every day in Cevennes, and in the adjacent parts, for the offering up Prayers and Supplications to God, sometimes in Woods, and at other times in Caves, and Rocks, and Dens of the Earth. The Dragoons, which almost always surprise them, put them to the Sword according to their Instructions, they Kill, and Hang, and drag them into Prisons: but all signifies nothing, they assemble, nevertheless. [Though the Bishop of Meaux denies his Church uses force to coerce conversions] because it is the King, say they, that doth it, it is not the Church, for it serves itself only of Spiritual Weapons: if what is done be disapproved, it ought not to be imputed, they say, to their Religion, which neither appoints nor advises it. We, on the contrary, prove that the Persecution is of the spirit of the Church of Rome by its Principles, its Doctrine, and its Practice. I do not know whether there can be any other source, or fountain of proofs when we treat of matters of Fact. The Principles of the Roman Church insist that all those that are separate from their Church are damned eternally. Its Doctrine is that the Secular Power, with Fire and Sword, may be employed for the extirpation of those that the calls ‘Heretics.’ The Council of Constance, which France esteems as the most Authentic, that hath been these thousand years, hath so determined, and so it practiced. For it caused John Hus and Jerome of Prague to be burned. The Albigenses, Waldenses, Bohemians, and many others were not Massacred, but by order of Councils, and Popes who published Crusades against them, and gave Indulgences, and promised pardon of sin to those that should destroy them. The Tribunal of the Inquisition, which burns all those that are either suspected, or Convicted of Heresy, is a Tribunal of the Church, established and maintained thereby; and it is looked on by the Popes as the great Rampart and Defense thereof. Never were there any Massacres committed which were not either commanded or approved by Popes. Rome hath sung Te Deum, that is, We praise thee O God &c. and given thanks to Him for the persecution of France. Nothing is more proper to make known what the Spirit of the Roman Church is than the conduct of the Court of Rome. We have said that the Pope publicly commends what hath been done in France, and hath caused Te Deum to be sung for it. If the Pope should condemn violence against so-called ‘Heretics’, he would cause his whole Church to mutiny against him, making himself worthy of deposition.
But the Bishop of Meaux [Jacques-Bénigne Bossuet, (d. 1704)] finds a very pleasant means to justify her, the Church never serves itself with force by itself, says he, that is to say, it calls to her succor the Secular Power to cut off heads, to hang, and burn; therefore, it ought not to be imputed to her. The Church doth a very fine honor to Magistrates when she makes them her Hangmen. She herself doth not kill, rather she constrains Princes to kill and burn. She constrains, I say, by Excommunications, Censures, Exhortations, Seductions, Solicitations; and the end thereof is, she would be able to say, The Church dips not her hand in blood; the Church by itself never makes use of force.
Did the Devil ever defraud after a more impudent and frontless manner? I will not say after a more expertly fashioned and subtle manner; for they lie without any hope to deceive; the Snare is so broad and so ridiculous.
The Dragoons come into a town or village and without any antecedent instruction demand, in the Name of the King, from all the Inhabitants thereof, Subscription and Abjuration, on penalty of wasting their goods, beating, imprisoning, and torturing their bodies with all kinds of evils, except death. All the people faint and fall, they own the Romish Religion without believing it; they sign the condemnation of their own, they anathematize and damn Luther, Calvin, and all the Reformers. [The new ‘convert’] goes to Confession, he goes to Mass, he communicates, he adores [worships as God] the bread, he assists at the invocation of Saints and outwardly consents to that worship they give to Images. He believes none of all this but abhors it in his heart. In the meantime, they [the Converters] are content, they have all that they desire, and they demand no more. Now what have they made? They have made Hypocrites that say one thing and think another, profane persons that hate what they adore; Idolaters, that worship what they account Creatures and the workmanship of men’s hands. Behold what they have done, and what they have desired to do. For to say that by the Dragoons they desired the Calvinists to renounce their Heresy is the most foolish of all extravagances; ’tis well enough known that they have no proper arguments to persuade. Therefore, they intended and desired to make Hypocrites, profane, sacrilegious persons, abusers of Sacraments and Idolaters. Now if these men be not on the highway to Damnation, I know not who are. So, therefore, plainly the end goal of these Persecutions, ’tis to damn men.
The Roman Catholic Church is not infallible, nor is it the ultimate Authority on all matters.
Among other things your Catholic persecutors make great and prodigious attempts to take you off the adherence you give to the holy Scriptures, and to oblige you to forsake those living Fountains, and to run after the broken Cisterns of Egypt which will hold no water. In a word, the meaning is if Christians, when they cannot agree upon the sense of Scripture, do not acknowledge a living, speaking Authority to which they do submit, the Christian Church is certainly the weakest of all Societies in the World, the most exposed to remediless Divisions, and most abandoned to factious Innovators. Monsieur Meaux pretends that this certain, living, speaking Authority is an infallible remedy against Divisions and Heresies. For without it, says he, the Church would be of all Societies most abandoned to Divisions, Innovations and Factions. [But I ask:] If this remedy is so good, why hath it never produced its desired effect? Was not this living, speaking Authority in the world, was it not, from the times of the Apostles and the first Ages of Christianity? Why, therefore, have we seen from the beginning swarms of Heresies and Heretics, Simonians, Corinthians, Basilidians, Valentinians, Marcionites, Manicheans, and multitudes of others? Why in the fourth and fifth Ages of the Church was it torn in pieces by Arians, Nestorians, Eutychians and Photinians? Why doth not this excellent remedy put an end to the schism of the Greeks after the duration of near eight hundred years? Was it this living, speaking Authority which suppressed the Waldenses and Albigenses, or the Fire and Sword of Simon de Montfort, and his Villains? Why hath this living, and speaking Authority permitted the Latin Church to be torn in pieces in these latter Ages? Behold, in truth, [this is] a pure remedy good for nothing, and which, moreover, is established upon inconsistent Principles, as hath been proved a hundred times.
But the Power of God and the stability of the Church consists in this, that it subsists in spite of all assaults, for God preserves, in the midst of those Schisms and Divisions, Errors and Superstitions, those fundamental Truths, and Precepts of Morality, by which the Elect are preserved, notwithstanding the general corruption that doth involve and overwhelm it. Herein is the strength of the Church, and ’tis a Miracle, and on the occasion thereof we ought to say, ‘Tis the Finger of God.
It is not, therefore, true that God hath given a sure and easy means to quiet the differences [of interpretive opinions] in which may arise about the sense of Scripture. God will save His Elect, but He will abandon His Enemies to blindness. ‘Tis by His pleasure that there be difficulties in the way of Faith and Salvation, but He hath filled the Holy Scriptures with enough Light to dissipate these Darknesses with respect to His Elect. And as for the Reprobates, He permits this spiritual darkness to remain in their hearts, which hinders them from seeing the sparkling and luminous Truths which are in the Scripture. God hath not left us certain and sure means to prevent or pacify divisions; we are convinced of that by experience. For divisions do continue among Christians, and have done so for fifteen Centuries, using various means to heal them. But He hath left means sufficiently certain for the conduct of His Children to attain Eternal Life, by the way and path of Truth. ‘Tis 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 mortal to their Souls.
[Re: the infallibility of the Church]: The Church of Rome hath erred. Therefore, it is not infallible. For how little soever you [new converts] are instructed in the Word of God, you will easily dismount the most able [Catholic] Sophisters, when you endeavor to prove that neither Transubstantiation, nor the worship of Images, nor the invocation of Saints, nor the adoration of the Eucharist, nor the Mass, nor Purgatory are in the Scripture. There needs no greater ability for that than for a Man to prove that a chamber [pot] is empty when there is nothing in it. The [Catholic converters] object unto you that the Scripture has not said all, but ’tis a nonsensible absurdity that the Scripture should be given to instruct us concerning what we ought to adore [i.e., worship], and it should forget three fourth parts of their objects [allegedly] due our adoration. It speaks to us only of the Adoration of God; and nevertheless, [your converters say that] religious worship must be given to Saints, to images, to relics and to the Sacrament of the Altar. Are you so dull-witted as to be taken in by so pitiful a snare? True, the Scripture has not said all, let it be granted with respect to the ceremonies and orders of Discipline, but these are not of the essence of [Christian] religion; but to believe Scripture has not told us all which is of the essence of the Christian religion, is ridiculous. I do maintain that he ought to have lost all shame whosoever advances this; and to permit himself to be persuaded of this, he must have lost all reason and have been degenerated to a beast. Was it agreeable to the [perfect] Wisdom of God to imperfectly instruct the Apostolic Church, and to leave to posterity the charge of adding those essential parts which were lacking? For you will always have an infallible refuge in the Scripture, and you will always be able to say: if [it is true that] Tradition may add to the Scripture, at least it ought not teach or command that which the Scripture condemns. After which it will not be difficult to prove that not only the Scripture says nothing of Transubstantiation, or the taking away of the Cup, or the Sacrifice of the Mass, of Purgatory, or the worship of images, or the invocation of Saints, &c., but that the Scripture formally condemns them.
Matthew 16:18 No Proof of Infallibility
Let us move on further: tell your [Catholic] Converters, Gentlemen, I perceive, that these words, the Gates of Hell shall not prevail against the Church, may have two senses. For they may signify that the Devil shall never introduce any error into the Church, of what nature soever it be. Or it may signify that the Devil shall never ruin the Church, that he shall never entirely destroy it by ruining its Foundations, i.e., its fundamental verities. Tell me, do these words signify necessarily the first, that is to say, the Devil shall never introduce any capital or considerable errors into the Church, or more precisely, that the Church shall never fall into any error? Of course not: For if one says to a Prince, ‘I will take care that your Enemies shall never prevail upon you,’ it will not necessarily signify that the Enemy shall never have any Victory upon him or gain any considerable advantage against him. Although this Prince should lose some villages, yea, and some provinces, yet if the majority and capital parts of his Empire always subsist notwithstanding, he would have the accomplishment of the promise made unto him: provided that the Church subsist in all Ages, although corrupt, provided that the Fundamentals of Christianity remain throughout in their integrity; the promise, the gates of hell shall not prevail against it, hath its accomplishment.
The Contradictions of Roman Catholic Doctrine against Scripture is no small matter, despite what Billy Graham, Modern Ecumenists and the French converts say.
In the January 1978, edition of McCall’s magazine, Billy Graham is quoted as saying, “I’ve found that my beliefs are essentially the same as those of orthodox Roman Catholics, for instance. They believe in the Virgin Birth, and so do I. They believe in the blood atonement of the cross, and so do I. They believe in the resurrection of Jesus and the coming judgment of God, and so do I. We only differ in some matters of later church tradition.”
The recent document entitled, Evangelicals and Catholics Together, declares, “Evangelicals and Catholics are brothers and sisters in Christ.”
Let us now hear what Pierre Jurieu has to say on the matter:
They preach to you [new converts] the fundamental Truths of Christianity; they display with great pomp the moral Precepts of Jesus Christ. In a little while you [new converts] will come to confess, yea, you do already confess that the Romish religion is not as bad as it hath been described; our Ministers have deceived us. Oh, you miserable people who labor to deceive yourselves! Have we ever said there was nothing of Christianity in the Romish religion? Why have we received its Baptism if there is nothing in it that is Christian? But doth that good which it hath hinder it from having an infinite number of things that are evil? ‘Tis an Idol’s Temple built upon the Christian religion, yet ’tis still an Idol’s Temple. ‘Tis a part of the Church, but ’tis that part where the Son of Perdition sits, according to the express prophecy of Saint Paul, that the son of perdition ought to sit in the temple of God. Doth the good Morality that they preach hinder it from actually, in truth, being moral, when there are persons tolerated in their Church who teach we may commit venial sins without offending God? That we may kill to preserve our honor entire and without spot?
[N.B. According to AI, “while the Roman Catholic Church never formally endorsed honor killings as a dogma, it historically tolerated the practice within the patriarchal systems of medieval Europe.”]
That we may steal with impunity? That we may continue in the habits of sin, when we cannot free ourselves from it? That simple Fornication is no great sin? That Repentance is not necessary during life? That we may be saved without having exercised one single act of love to God all the days of our life? That we may kill Kings when we are persuaded that they have become Tyrants? We do not say that these Men are tolerated, but that they tolerate others; for they are far the greatest number. [Your Converters] do not show you Popery on that [dark] side, nor on the side of its Idolatries, Images, and male and female Saints which they have set so near to God [in their heavenly offices] that they cause them to partake with Him in His Glory; nor will they reveal the [dark] side of its Pilgrimages, and the Relics which they adore, and a thousand other Superstitions. But I pray, my brethren, give heed to what I am about to say: You do not perceive whither this conduct will lead you. (1) In constantly frequenting the exercises of devotion mandated by the Romish religion and often attending Popish Churches, you will insensibly abate in the aversion you ought to have for those places of devotion, which Superstition hath rendered entirely profane. You enter without indignation into those places in which the great God, jealous of His Honor, is provoked to jealousy by Idolatry. You will accustom yourselves to see Images before which men prostrate themselves, and to which they give religious honor, contrary to the express Commandment of that Law given in the midst of Thunders, to signify that the Transgressors thereof should be smitten with the just Thunders of Divine Vengeance. You will behold, without emotion, those Altars where that miserable Sacrifice is offered, which is so great a shame to the Christian religion, and doth expose it to the reproach of Infidels, who reproach Christians as Furies [i.e., mythological goddesses of vengeance] and mad Men who offer their God in Sacrifice every day, and eat Him when done. You will account this as nothing. You admit to seeing the Images and Altars of the Roman Church without indignation, “but we have no Faith, or Veneration for their Mysteries, and in this respect, we are at the same [spiritual] distance from them that we ever were.” Alas, how wickedly inept are you instructed in the windings and turnings of the heart of Man! The Devil receives worship through all things by diminishing the aversion that you have had for the places where this Worship is performed, for you will insensibly lose your aversion for the Worship itself. After you have beheld, without any emotion of mind, the Altars on which they sacrifice, by little and little you will accustom yourselves to be spectators thereof, and in conclusion you will soon come to partake therein. Believe me, you can never be excessively on your guard against Error and Superstition.
When an object hath two faces, the one fair, and the other foul and deformed, to the end that we preserve that righteous aversion we ought to have for it, ’tis necessary that we always look on its ill-favored side. The way to Hell hath its roses, but ’tis still the way to Hell. If you look not on it but on the side of its flowers, you will forget there are thorns wherewith your Souls will be pierced and wounded with wounds incurable. Once more, my brethren, run not to those Sermons where that good which is preached cannot please, without diminishing the hatred you ought to have for the evil that is found there.
It is true, the Evangelists and Apostles taught us to believe one God in three Persons, and one Son of God made Man, who died for the sins of Mankind, who Rose again, Ascended into Heaven, and will come again to Judge the quick and the dead, and to send one part of them into everlasting Torments, and to give the other Rewards infinite, both in extent and duration. But this is not Popery, this is Christianity. Popery is a Sacrifice of the Body and Blood of our Lord, every day offered to God for the sins of the living and the dead. It is a new Jesus made of Bread, descending at all hours between the Hands of the Priest which they adore as the great God. It is the Worship, and Invocation of a second sort of Mediator, and Intercessor, to whom they build Temples, erect Images and Altars, to whose honor they Sacrifice Jesus Christ, by whose Name they swear, to whom they make Vows, and in one word, to whom they give all those divine Honors that are given to God Himself. Popery preaches an intermediate state betwixt Heaven and Hell called Purgatory, in which, for a time, Souls endure the pains of fire and the torments of the damned. Purgatory is the foundation of a thousand other Worships, Penances, Prayers for the dead, Masses, indulgences, Stations, Jubilees, Mortifications, and human Satisfactions. To conclude, Popery is an institution of a new Head, and Spouse for the Church, into whose hands the Lord Jesus hath [allegedly] committed all His Authority and Rights whereby he can pluck up, plant, build, and destroy; to bind and to loose, to make and unmake Kings, and to keep the Keys of Heaven and Hell. Now is it possible that [normal, sane] persons can permit themselves to be taken by so gross an illusion? If the thing under debate were small, peradventure it might be conceded, but it is about adoration of the Sacrament, that is to say, a piece of bread and giving religious worship to Creatures and Images. The thing debated concerns the Celebration of a Sacrifice, the most important thing in the World in [the Christian] religion; yea, about the Sacrificing of Christ Himself, the greatest Sacrifice that can be imagined.
Protestants remain in Unity with the true Church.
The Catholic Converters question whether it be proper to separate from their Church though it may be corrupted because despite its shortcomings it is the one true Church.
[N. B. This is the reasoning many Catholics use to remain in communion with the Church of Rome despite the preponderance of adverse publicity and enormous monetary awards given to the victims of its pedophile priests.]
The Bishop of Meaux in his Pastoral Letter endeavors to prove there is none allowed to separate from the Roman Church, and that all separate Assemblies are in a state of Damnation; so that a Martyr who dies for the faith outside of this Unity, is nevertheless damned.
First, My Brethren, it is necessary that you have a just and legitimate idea of what constitutes the Unity of the Church. They tell you there is but one Catholic [universal] Church, and that there cannot be many. This is true, there is but one universal Church, and even the word ‘universal’ that is added thereunto makes it apparent there can be but one. Just as the word universe (by which is signified the world) signifies there is but one, for if there were another world besides this, ours would not be universal, seeing it would not totally comprehend all. But the Bishop of Meaux and those that are like unto him, give you a facetious idea of both its Unity and Universality together. The Church of Rome, say they, is this universal and only Church; it is universal, and yet nevertheless, outside 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 are many other worlds besides it. Isn’t this absurd? But it will be said that these Propositions are not alike nor the same, for your Converters mean thereby all other Churches besides the Roman Churches are false Churches. This is another similar absurdity, as if a man should say, “‘Tis true, there are many worlds besides ours; nevertheless, ours is the universe because all the rest are false worlds.” I intreat you, my Brethren, before you go further, propose a question to your Converters. 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 the Church in which Unity is necessary is the Church of Rome? for I have heard say, that there are many other Churches; it hath been told us that, among others, there is a Church in the East called the Greek Church, which hath three Patriarchs, that is to say, their comparable Popes, the Bishops of Constantinople, Antioch, and Alexandria, and these do all in like manner anathematize the Pope of Rome. Besides, they all claim to hold the seats of Andrew, Peter, and St. Mark.
First, [you should remind them that] according to Scripture, Fathers, and Evidence of Reason, the Unity of the Church ought to contain universality in itself, that is to say, that Church which is One ought to be universal, extended through all the World; it ought to comprehend all Christians.
Secondly, according to the hypothesis of the Church of Rome, every one that errs, though never so little, that is to say, who differs from that [interpretation] which the Romanists determine, is out of the Unity of the Church, and without hope of Salvation. Behold how ill this agrees with that notable passage of St. Paul, 1 Cor. 3:11. From this it is clear that those who teach unsound doctrines which do not overturn the foundational truths of Christianity may be saved.
A third proof is that God preserves the Ministry of his Word in many places, and in many Churches, which do not submit to the Latin Church. The Wisdom of God will not permit that He should preserve the Ministry in places where there are none but non-elect and Reprobates.
Fourthly, the schism of the ten Tribes gives us convincing proof that in schismatic Churches every single person is not necessarily 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 preserved both Prophets, as Elijah [tribe of Gad] and Elisha [tribe of Issachar], 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 itself of alone having Unity to the prejudice of all other Churches.
It is not, therefore, the Unity of ceremonies, of worship, discipline, and Pastors, which makes essential Unity; those are examples of non-essential Unity which a man may break without going out of true Unity. The Novatians, who separated from the Church for a small ill-chosen point of discipline, were in the wrong no doubt and greatly in the wrong, and their founder, Novatian, above all, who was the first author of that Separation. But ’tis a ridiculous chimera to imagine they were out of essential Unity, seeing that when they separated, they carried with them the true Jesus, the true doctrine, and the true Sacraments. They were yet the Church, they were Christians, despite what St. Cyprian says of them: and not only did their martyrs obtain the Crown of Martyrdom, but their penitent Christians obtained salvation, although they died in schism.
This Unity 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 [i.e., ‘mark’] under which the Apostolic Church is described unto us, They were all of one heart and one mind, [Acts 4:32]. ‘Tis this holy Unity which draws down the Holy Spirit; for when the fiery Tongues fell upon the Apostles, they were all with one accord assembled in one place.
The True Idea of Schism: We so-called ‘Schismatics’ are not out of the Church.
Schism, say they, is a hideous crime: Schismatics are out of the Church; there is no Salvation for them: and although the Church of Rome itself were corrupt, you ought not to break with her. [However, truth be told] 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 for a man 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 a Heretic. But every Society that goes out of another 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.
We must, therefore, know that there is a Universal and a Particular Schism. A Particular Schism is a separation from a particular Church, while a Universal Schism is a Separation from the Universal Church. A Universal Schism consists in the renunciation of the Universal Church by renouncing her Doctrine, Sacraments, and Ministry. For example, if one half of Christians should separate from the other, and set up a new Gospel, according to which Moses is set side by side with Jesus Christ, the legal ceremonies re-established, the Evangelical Ministry changed into the Ministry of Priests after the Order of Aaron; the Sacraments of the Church joined to the Sacraments of the Old Testament; it is certain this would be a true Schism; for these men would renounce the Doctrine, the Sacraments, and the Ministry of the Gospel. 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, have become Schismatics, and true Schismatics with respect to the Church Universal; for they have not carried the Church with them because they have not carried Christianity with them.
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 Leaders among themselves. Of this sort of Schism 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 regarding a controversy concerning ceremonies, and 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 the Jews observed theirs, which they claimed was 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 the greatest (which may serve as 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 has happened in the Latin Church, which is divided into three great Bodies: the Papists, the Lutherans, and the Reformed.
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 Universal Schisms, viz. Exclusion from Salvation. But no Church hath carried this folly to that degree of extravagance as the Church of Rome hath done; for she calls herself the Catholic and Universal Church, to the exclusion of all others: And she would fain that the Doctrines which are peculiar to her, such as the Supremacy of the Pope, Transubstantiation, Purgatory, &c. should be accounted the Universal Truths of Christianity.
Jurieu responds to those who believe it acceptable and right to remain in communion with the Roman Church despite its grave errors.
The point of Rome’s idolatry excepted, the ‘new converts’ confess there are all sorts of corruption in the Roman Church; that the Real Presence and Transubstantiation are Errors; that the Sacrifice of the Mass established only upon this Transubstantiation is therefore a false Sacrifice; that Adoration, which is a consequence of the real Presence (as Papists pretend) is superstitious; that Masses without communicants are contrary to the Institution of Jesus Christ; that the Privation of the Cup is criminal; that Purgatory is a dream; that Service for the Dead, Masses, Penances, and Indulgences are Superstitions; that the Invocation of Saints, the worship of Hyperdulia, which is given to the Blessed Virgin, the worship of Images, Veneration for Relics are loathsome additions made to Christianity, and that they pollute and dishonor it; that the Latin Tongue hath to very ill purpose been preserved in the public worship to rob the people of that edification which they might find by understanding what was said; that the Government is tyrannical, that the Pope usurps a Power which appertains not to him – that it may be he is Antichrist; that the Church of Rome is so far from being Infallible, that she hath erred in a hundred things. Nevertheless, they [attempt to] prove by reasons we have heard that they may still continue there. Now upon this supposition let us hear them speak and examine their opinions one after another.
If the Roman Church be corrupt, as you [Protestants] confess, by separating from that which is corrupt in her, a man does not separate from the Unity, seeing that Unity is not in corruption, it is in Christianity. If a man may be saved out of the Roman Communion, as you [Protestants] do fully believe, for you [Protestants], though declared damned by Papists are, in fact, not out of Unity [with the Universal Church]; for whoever is out of that Unity is not in a state of Salvation because Salvation is not found anywhere else but in the Church, which is One, and which alone possesses Unity. In the Name of God, my Brethren, learn by this example not to speak without understanding what you say to please your Converters, and above all your own Self-Love. Are you of the opinion of Mr. Nicholas [Sanders], and of M. Ferrand, that though the Roman Church were heretical and idolatrous, yet we ought not to separate from it by a positive separation? My Brethren, I knock hard at the door of your consciences to awake you from that sleep to behold the horror of this Proposition. If this is true, we know not how to reasonably put any bounds upon this toleration for the errors of the Church. Tell me, do you believe that a Society which becomes truly heretical and idolatrous can continue at the same time as the true Church and the true Body of Jesus Christ? Is there anything more opposite to Christianity than Idolatry? How can your conscience be otherwise than dead and past all feeling to allow Churches full of images, before which men offer prayers, incense, supplications, adorations, and homages to creatures, to Saints; to have withdrawn the Cup, made a false Sacrifice, covered a hidden divine service under a barbarous language; to beguile the people with relics, bones, Indulgences, Stations, Jubilees, &c. How, say I, are you able not to perceive that this is not an extreme corruption? Now how can we recover the Church from this corruption, but by separating ourselves from it? You will say, we ought to continue in it and remonstrate against its corruption. But you know well that this is impossible, you know that they burnt our Fathers because they made remonstrance against it. By continuing and remonstrating against Idolatry and Superstition, should we not be immediately seized by the Inquisition, or by the Bishops and secular Judges where there are no Inquisitors? Should we not be put in prison, hanged, and burnt? Therefore, it is necessary that we separate and go out of her or remain there in silence. Now behold, what kind of immorality is this: to know that we are in a very corrupt communion, which is Antichristianity, yet keep continuing there without saying anything! Tell me, I intreat you, my Brethren, what will you do to reform the Roman Church by continuing in it? If you speak freely, saying that her worship, innovations and adorations of creatures are true idolatries, they will send you the Dragoons, and peradventure hang you. But if you hold your peace, will your secret sighs and groanings reform the Church?
You dare say all the holy Scripture which makes mention of heresies doth not command Separation. How dare you say this? Do you not read that Scripture which says, Go out of Babylon, my People, for fear lest by partaking in its sins you partake in its plagues. This Babylon is a false Church, which says, I am a Queen and shall see no sorrow: ‘I am the Church which cannot fail.’ It imports not at present where this Church is; but do you not see that God commands those who are there to go out of it? Wherefore doth S. Paul say to his disciples, A man that is a heretic, after the first and second admonition, reject. How can a person shun anyone, standing at a distance from him, without Separation from him? Doth not St. Paul say to the Corinthians, Put from among you that wicked person. These are, therefore, wicked wretches, and by consequence ought to be cast out. Do you not remember the same Apostle saith to the Galatians, if anyone preach to you any other doctrine besides that which you have received, let him be to you Anathema. Do you believe that it is allowed for you to adhere to those which you ought to execrate, and to whom you ought to say anathema?
The Scripture says that we may build upon the foundation, which is Christ, wood, hay, and stubble. Do you really understand that this wood, hay, and stubble which we may safely build are idolatries, superstitious doctrines, moral depravities, monstrous and heinous opinions such as found in the Roman Church? What reasons are there that can persuade you that the invocation of Saints, by which are given to the Blessed Virgin all the titles, attributes, privileges, powers and homages which appertain to the Deity; that the worship of images, by which they prostrate themselves before wood and stone against an express prohibition of the Law, by which they adore that which is but bread; that the setting up a new, real, and true Sacrifice, unknown to Jesus Christ and the Apostles; that the taking away the half of one Sacrament, and the addition of five whole new ones; that to cover a superstitious worship by burying it in a barbarous Language; do you believe, say I, that all this is called wood, hay, and stubble? Doth not sound sense tell you that wood, hay, and stubble are light and trifling things, not that which is most filthy and wicked?
But you say Jesus Christ alone will make separation of this wood and this gold, the good and unblemished grain shall be separated at the last day, but we must let them grow together till then. I fear, my Brethren, that if you continue to blind yourselves God will abandon you to your darkness. You are strange commentators on the Gospel text; you ought to first read the interpretation which the Lord gives of the Parable [Mattew 13:37-39] before you give your own. Behold, it proceeds out of the mouth of Jesus Christ: He which sowed the good seed is the Son of Man, the field is the World; the good seed are the children of the Kingdom, the Tares are the children of the wicked one. The field is the World, then ’tis not the Church; ’tis therefore in the World that we ought to tolerate heretics and idolaters, not in the Church.
Although the Church of Rome retains the fundamental Creeds of Christianity, she denies these fundamental truths by adding fundamental errors, thus the need to separate.
Now suppose Christians who receive these three Creeds nevertheless adore the Sun, the Moon, the Earth, and almost all the Idols of Paganism; you will say that these things are inconsistent, [yet possible, requiring us to remain]. However, it is impossible that a man should believe God is the Creator of Heaven and Earth, that Jesus Christ is His Eternal Son and the Creator 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, believe that we may adore the Earth, the Trees, the Sun and Moon because God animates and fills them. Although there is no specific command in the Creeds to worship God alone, it does not mean that we are free to worship everything, not only God. Is not the worship of the consecrated bread of the Mass similar to that of [Pagan] worship given the Stars since both are filled by God, i.e., Christ’s invisible presence in the Eucharist? Therefore, learn and understand that man may retain the fundamental Truths of Christianity and yet build thereon Dung, Poison, and all sorts of Impurities: For the [fleshly] spirit of Man is capable of [allegedly] reconciling those things that are most irreconcilable.
It is possible to retain the fundamental Truths of Christianity and yet adopt abominable practices of Pagans [which contradict these truths]. This is exactly what 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; ’tis an idolatrous Temple raised upon the Temple of Jesus Christ. A fundamental error is, therefore, an error or practice which is, in itself, inconsistent with the Foundation.
I say, in itself, and by itself; for men find ways of reconciling all things: Impiety and Religion, Ріety and Superstition. But we may not conclude that all which men do join together is, in itself, reconcilable and compatible. The Roman Church hath a hundred errors and practices of this sort: her worship of Saints, images, relics, and the Sacrament is not by any means reconcilable with the worship of the true God, nor with true faith in Christ Jesus.
Furthermore, a fundamental truth of Christianity declares there is but one God and that we must worship none but Him; Popery has ruined and rejected this Fundamental truth, for it worships many other things beside God; so that to speak properly, we cannot say the Church of Rome retains all Fundamentals. We could well note other Fundamentals which she does not receive. Don’t flatter yourselves, therefore, my Brethren, any more by this wicked illusion that the Roman Church confesses all Fundamental Truths, therefore, you may continue there in safety. For that reasoning is no better than this: ‘The wine retains all the substance, strength, taste and spirit of Wine, therefore, we may drink of it with safety, though it be mingled with Poison, Idolatry, Errors, and Superstition which take away the efficacy from the saving Doctrines of Christianity.’ Popery is Anti-Christianity; you can’t doubt it without blinding yourselves; Popery hath fundamental Errors. To conclude, Popery hath spoiled the efficacy of those Fundamental Truths which it hath preserved and by consequence is in no condition to require or expect toleration.
Many were saved before the Protestant Reformation due to the miraculous mercy of God.
We [Protestants] do willingly confess that before the Reformation there were people saved in the Roman Communion. About two hundred years ago, there were no Communions in the world which were not corrupt, at least no notable Communions or Societies. It must needs be that God had His Elect there, for He never leaves the world without them. Do not worry when we send you to find these Elect among the Waldenses, Albigenses, Wycliffites and Hussites. These were Forerunners and are like mornings which went before the Sun of Reformation. But these Societies did not continue, nor were they great enough to symbolize all the Elect in the world.
Secondly, all children born in the Popish Communion are saved, who die before the Age of Reason because they have part in the advantage of the general Covenant of Christianity which is preserved in Popery, and they have no part in the corruptions which have been added thereto.
Thirdly, we must presume that before the Reformation the number of adults saved must be few for Histories do represent the corruption not only of worship, but also of morals so horrible and universal, that a man knows not where to fix his eyes to find a person that might be saved. The Clergy were overflown with debauchery; the Monks were assemblies of profligate persons and hypocrites; the houses of Nuns were filthy bawdy-houses. The people suffered themselves to be born away by the torrent and examples of their Guides; the devout people scarcely knew the difference between the Creator and the creature, and their piety consisted of superstitions which are even a horror to the wiser Doctors of the Roman Church at this day.
Fourthly, nevertheless, let us suppose that among all these there were some saved Elect. I do maintain that it was absolutely by Miracle; I say, by Miracle, in the literal sense of the word, and without figure: As a man which lives in a hideous Mire, sunk over his head and ears, lives there by a Miracle. For the Roman Communion is damnable, which is certain; but men are saved there because the promise of God cannot be in vain, and He cannot be without children. We are persuaded that an infinite number received Christianity there, either because they did not take part in her Antichristianity, or they repented of it before their death.
In the Roman Church it is impossible to worship God without worshipping Idols. The Antichrist Pope and Clergy exposed.
Have you never read that the Roman Church is like a great double Temple, whereof the lower part is consecrated to God and the superior part to an Idol? By an unhappy art of the Devil, you cannot enter into the one without entering into the other. You cannot worship God without partaking in the worship of idols. You cannot partake in the heavenly Sacrament of Jesus Christ without participation in a false and corrupt Sacrifice; and without prostrating yourselves before the idol of bread. You cannot confess Jesus Christ Head of the Church without adhering to a false Head, to the Head of a Body which is ultimately Antichristian. You cannot call upon God in public worship, unless at the same time you call upon creatures.
Therefore, it remains that we prove unto you that Popery, confounded and mixed with Christianity, is mortal, impure, and intolerable.
First, there you see a Head who calls himself the most Holy Lord, his Holiness, and the Vicar of Jesus Christ, who bears all the marks of Antichrist: He sits in the Temple of God as if he were God; he makes himself to be adored as God; he has his seat at Rome, the City upon seven Hills; he hath ten Kings under him who give obedience to him; he is clothed in scarlet, as the Whore in the Revelation; he bears a Triple Crown; he has upon his forehead the names of blasphemy, calling himself God on Earth, the Vicar of Jesus Christ, the Spouse of the Church, the mouth which pronounces infallible oracles; he sits upon a Beast, i.e., on an Empire, viz. the Roman Empire which he hath raised up again: He makes the Image of the Beast to speak and be adored: he hath established in the Church the true Image of the Roman Empire; and causes this Image to be adored on pain of Death; he hath two Horns, two Powers, as a Lamb, the Temporal and Spiritual; speaks like a Dragon; and is the Protector of lies and falsehood: He works false Signs and Wonders to support his false Religion; his Teachers make profession of austerity, celibacy, abstinence, and fasting, and refusing marriage. He hath his seat in Babylon, that City of Merchandise, where all things are sold, and where they make Merchandise even of the Souls of Men. He causes his Mark to be born, i.e., his profession, upon the hands and upon the forehead; The name of Latin Church, and Latin Pope, contain exactly 666, which is the number of the Beast: This Pope, this pretended Vicar of Jesus Christ, is seen under a canopy, or cloth of State, in pomp and in magnificence; he is seen trampling crowned Heads under his Feet, making himself to be carried on the shoulders of Emperors; causing Princes to kiss his Feet: He hath been seen as a furious Lion in all Ages, covering the Earth with Blood, dethroning Emperors, pulling off their Crowns, absolving subjects from the oaths of fidelity given to their Kings, and thereby putting a Sword into their hands, from whence have followed cruel and barbarous Civil Wars. He has been seen encouraging the Father against the Son, and the Son against the Father; subjects against their Kings, and stirring them up to run their swords into the bowels of their Sovereigns. He has been seen putting all Europe into a flame, and carrying confusion, blood, and disorder everywhere by his ambition. He hath been seen fighting with competitors, called Anti-popes, conducting armies, shedding blood, despoiling cities, and laying waste fields by fire and sword. He has been seen with his Arms in his hands, like a mad man filling the world with horror and desolation to maintain his pretended succession to the inheritance of Christ Jesus. He has been seen keeping Whores, sometimes a Sodomite, sometimes a Sorcerer, sometimes a Murderer and a Paracide, sometimes an Adulterer, and Corrupter of Wives and Women; sometimes like a Blood-sucker devouring Provinces, swallowing up Kingdoms, exhausting their substance and drawing Tributes from all the Earth. He hath been seen cheating, deceiving, making false oaths, violating Treaties, stirring up seditions, promoting wars. He has been seen to make an horrible traffic of sins, selling Pardon for Sodomites, for having lain with sister and mother, and even with a beast, for having killed his father, his Benefactor, and even his King: He himself hath been seen killing, poisoning, robbing, exercising rage, ambition, and dreadful robberies. I do profess, that one must be fallen to a reprobate sense, to call such a man the Vicar of Jesus Christ, and to imagine that such a See is the seat of the Church.
After you have looked upon the Head, if you consider the members of Popery, you will see great Lords, lovers of the world, who call themselves the Princes of the Church, who being oftentimes nothing but the dregs of the people, disputing their place with Sovereigns. They keep Houses and the train of Princes; they have magnificent Equipage, stately Lodgings, sumptuous furniture and delicate tables. They are the Council and the Senate of the Pope; they are the Cardinals which call themselves the Pillars of the whole world, upon which the Church stands: These are the Ministers of Jesus Christ, who said to His Disciples, He who will be greatest among you, let him be your servant. Also, Verily, verily, I say unto you, if you humble not yourselves as a little child, you cannot enter into the kingdom of heaven. Below these Prince-ministers of the Antichristian Empire, we see Bishops, another sort of secular Princes, Governors of Dioceses, i.e., the Provincials of the Pope, who call themselves Bishops, Archbishops, &c. by the grace and favor of the Holy See, after the same manner that the Governors of the Provinces of a Kingdom take the title of their dignity, by the favor of their King. These men possess a great revenue which was appointed by the Donors to nourish the Poor, but serve nevertheless to maintain the best table in the Province; who possess a great number of debauched and unruly servants, as well as cooks that are most expert in the art of making curious meats and sauces; coaches with six horses, packs of hounds, and oftentimes a stable of prostituted Whores. These men cause themselves to be called ‘my Lord’ in the world and treat their Inferiors like Pages and Foot-boys.
These have not the least grain of that which is called the Spirit of the Gospel, but are animated by the Spirit of the World which is disorder, debauchery, ambition, and avarice: They watch not over their flocks, but after some benefice greater than their own, after which they gape always like wolves after their prey.
Below these Superiors are an inferior Clergy, composed either of Cannons appointed to sing Vespers and Mattins in Cathedral Churches, whose repose, ease, good cheer, long sleep, drunkenness, sloth, fat and plumpness have always served, and do serve still for matter of Satyrs and Jests: or they are Curates who are not only for the most part the dregs of the Clergy, but dregs of the people; excepting those of great cities, who engage themselves to the labor of instructing themselves in the way to live like the world; the rest are ignorant, brutish, drunken Whore-masters, & given to the basest & most shameful vices. And besides this, the Clergy is made up of an infinite number of little Priests, which are (above all in Italy and Spain) as they were heretofore everywhere, ministers of the filthiest pleasures, and of the most criminal attempts. Are these the Guides of Jerusalem or the Builders of Babel? Consult those which have seen Rome a little near at hand: Learn from them that Religion there is an Interlude, and that all the Ecclesiastics are theatrical actors who do not believe in God.
Roman Priests preach lies.
Instead of the true Gospel what do they preach in those places that are under the dominion of Popery? And what have they preached in the times when it did rule and prevail without contradiction? They preached: (1) Corrupt Morality, according to which a man might commit murder to save a Crown, to defend his Honour, even from some small affront. A man might rob when he did not think himself sufficiently recompensed for his labors. A man might exercise usury and infamous monopolies. A man might keep Concubines and abandon himself to Sodomy without mortal sin. A man might lie by equivocation and mental reservations. According to them a man might live all his life without the fear of God, without performing one act of contrition, or have no love of God unto his death, yet he might be forgiven at the point of death, provided he exercised an act of fearing Hell when he receives the Sacrament of Penance. Popery hath produced this detestable Morality; it hath taught it where it could, inspired it into private persons, and suffered it where it dared not teach it.
For holy History, instead of the pious and sacred Histories of the Scripture which might turn men’s minds towards a pious devotion, they entertain the people with fictious Legends. Instead of speaking to them of the Miracles and Greatness of Jesus Christ, they speak of the Greatness of the Virgin; they say that she was conceived without sin; that her father and mother had been announced of her birth by an Angel; that at her birth the Angels assembled together and formed a Choir and Consort in the air; that this celebration of the birth of the Holy Virgin is repeated every year on the same day; that many Saints have heard them in the air; that this Holy Virgin was bred and brought up in the Temple, and in the most holy Place called the Sanctuary; that when she conceived Jesus Christ, it was by three drops of her Blood, which the holy Spirit took from her heart; that after she had lived most holily, she died in the presence of all the Apostles, whom the Holy Spirit brought in the air from all parts of the world, whither they were gone to preach the Gospel; that three days after she rose again and was carried up into Heaven with charming music made by the voices of Jesus Christ and the Angels, she was set very near to Jesus Christ, above all the Seraphims. After the Assumption of the Virgin into Heaven, they claimed she performed thousands of ridiculous miracles upon Earth: sometimes she appeared to a Monk, sometimes to a pilgrim, sometimes to one of her devoted servants: she kissed them, she made them kiss her; she opened her bosom to them; she gave them suck from her breasts; she appointed them to build a Chapel dedicated to her in such a place, and that they should perform such and such Devotions to her; she fixes herself in certain places, and there makes her choice to dwell and do Miracles. All those which come thither for sickness, blindness, palsy, loss of blood, deafness, loss of members, return thence safe and sound. When one of her houses formerly frequented ceased to be popular, she transported it beyond the seas and fixed it in another country to draw thither new servants to her Devotion. She forgets nothing that may favor those which serve her. In one Convent she takes the place, office, and figure of a debauched Nun who ran to the houses of Prostitution because this Nun, when leaving the Convent, did devoutly commit the Convent into her hand; In another instance it is told that because an Abbess did most devoutly commend herself to Mary when she had polluted herself [by fornicating] with her domestics, Mary delivered her from her pregnancy and restored her Virginity, in such a way, that those who had accused her became ashamed and confounded.
Instead of entertaining the people with the miracles and virtues of true Saints, as did the Apostles, to oblige them to an imitation of them, Popery hath substituted unto them new Saints, which were Fools, and wicked Fools, too: St. Francis, St. Dominc, St. Hyacinth, St. Vincent Ferrerius; or imaginary Saints, as St. Christopher, and the eleven thousand Virgins, or modern and unknown Saints, such as St. Milorus, St. Alldem, St. Colganus, and a thousand others, to whom they attribute ridiculous and impertinent actions for virtues, and such foolishness for miracles which are unworthy even of those little Demons called Hobgoblins. One who testified of his humility allowed himself to be tossed in a sieve by little children; another, to draw upon himself contempt, counterfeited the Fool and the Idiot; another fouled the bed of his host so that he might be despised; another kept company with beasts, wolves, and swallows; another preached to fishes or birds; another stripped himself naked, and in that condition exposed himself to public view; another made for himself women of Snow and embraced them to cool and extinguish his lust [………..]
As to what concerns Doctrine, they speak but little of the august mysteries of the Christian religion to the people, such as those of the Divine Attributes, the Persons of the Trinity, the Incarnation and Redemption of Christ Jesus. These mysteries are set aside and neglected, or if they spoke anything of them, ’twas after a Scholastical manner and method, ’twas by mingling with it a barbarous Philosophy of entities and fundamental essences, with obscure and unintelligible distinctions; ’twas by raising foolish questions on the subject of the most venerable mysteries. For example, Whether God could make matter without form; whether He could command sin; whether this proposition, God is a Beetle, or a Gourd, could be as true as this: God is a Man; whether the number of three Persons in God ought to be referred to the first, or second intentions; whether the second Person in the Trinity could take the nature of a Devil, or of an Ass, as he took the nature of Man? The Books which contain these fine questions are not yet destroyed.
At the least, they entertain people with the false Doctrines of Popery. Instead of speaking to them of the efficacy of the venerable Sacrifice of Jesus Christ upon the Cross, they speak nothing but of the greatness and utilities of the Holy Sacrifice of the Altar called the Mass. It is good for everything: for the healthy and for the sick; to cure all diseases of travelers; for helping those who undertook great things; to find silver, horses, asses, and hogs that were lost. ‘Twas good for the dead, as well as for the living; ’twas excellent to fetch souls from Purgatory or to abate their sufferings, for which reason they could not say how many years for that purpose to be effectual: 100, 200, 300, 1000, 2000, 3000, 4000, and all with the design to draw by this practice maintenance for a million Sluggards who have nothing upon which to live but these Masses. Instead of exalting the divine virtue of the Blood of Jesus Christ, they preach nothing but Purgatory, of a certain Fire which was to burn souls after death: but of what sort of men? of those who had not made pious foundations, who had not left great revenues to convents, who had not left great alms to the Monks to say Masses. And upon this account they had always some soul which came from Purgatory bringing news from thence, who desired Masses and prayers, and who complained lamentably that his friends had forsaken him. Amongst the means of appeasing the wrath of God, true repentance which consists in contrition and amendment of life, was passed over very lightly. But they insisted mightily on satisfactions, mortifications, whippings, hair cloths, and Pilgrimages; they eagerly promoted the value of these things, they spoke of them with prodigious excesses, ascribing Salvation wholly to them. And because all the world was desirous to be saved, but few were capable of these hard penances, they found easier and more commodious ways.
If you give money to a Monk, he will whip himself for you, and you shall go to Heaven on his account. If you give great alms to a Convent of the Friar Miners, or the Preaching Friars, or the Augustines, or the Carmelites; if you take the Cord girdle, or the Rosary of the Fraternity and bestow great bounty and liberality on them, and get the Letters of Adoption of St. Francis, or St. Dominic, by these means you partake in the merit, i.e., in all the scourgings and macerations of the Monks of that Order scattered all the world over. For greater security they have established a lovely, good, and inexhaustible Treasury of Indulgencies made up of all the superabundant scourgings of the good Monks, mingled with the infinite merit of the passion of Jesus Christ. And from this Treasure the Bishops and the Popes, as Sovereign Dispensers, fetch Indulgencies and remission for all sins, for 40,000 years, for 100,000 years, for 500,000 years, and all this by [the ignorant man] paying well for it. So that if a man had committed so many enormous crimes that they could not be expiated under less than 500,000 years penance, he becomes discharged of them in a moment by his money. And there was no distinction of sins: Incests, adulteries, paricides, Sodomies, brutalities, all fell under the grace of Indulgencies.
Instead of abasing man before God, by speaking nothing to him but of Grace and the forgiveness of sins; instead of saying to him you are perpetually saved by Grace, through Faith which is the gift of God; instead of making him understand that his good works could merit nothing before God because they were quite imperfect; instead, say I, of doing all this, they endeavored to fill man with himself; they speak nothing to him but the merit of his works and the profit of human satisfactions. They make him believe that, above all, in the matter of satisfactions he could do more than he was obliged to do, that he had Merit remaining, and that he did works of supererogation. Even today there are found devout persons so foolish and proud as to say to their friends they will give them their Merits. They never speak anything to them but of their power, of their free will, of their good works, of their Merits, of the crowns which are prepared for them above others. And above all these works, to which they affix these crowns, are not prayers, devotions, strict morals and holy lives, or charity and alms given to the poor. Instead, there are sackcloths, and haircloths, ’tis to shut themselves up in Convents, and take vows of virginity, to abstain from certain meats, to live in retirement without seeing or speaking to anyone, to wear a frock without a shift [i.e., to wear an outer garment without the undergarment]. With these trappings of good works these men look on Heaven as an inheritance, by full right, all according to the Laws and rigor of Justice. And as for other men, these pretended righteous persons full of pharisaical pride look upon them with a great contempt by saying, ‘Come not near me, for I am Holy.’
Instead of instructing men in the true way of possessing and uniting ourselves to Christ Jesus, they have invented a carnal and corporeal manner which is of small difficulty to receive Him, while tasting all the saving fruits of His presence. They have enclosed Him under a morsel of bread, from whence they have withdrawn the substance, leaving nothing but the accidents [i.e., visible and natural qualities inherent in bread] to remain. And under these accidents they have [allegedly] conveyed the substance of Jesus Christ, [i.e., His flesh, blood and Divinity] by the virtue of Transubstantiation concomitant, and I know not how many other monstrous imaginations and barbarous expressions. Behold, so much for the opinions and doctrine of Popery.
Roman Catholic Worship is Pagan at its core.
Let us a little consider its worship. Instead of the adoration and worship of the only true God, who is jealous of His Honour and Glory, they have truly re-established pure Paganism. The most blessed Mother of Jesus Christ hath taken the place of Mother of the Gods; they have set her upon the Throne of God, they call her the Mother of Mercies, the Redemptrix of Mankind, the perfection and accomplishment of the Trinity, the Queen of Heaven. They give her the power to command her Son by the authority of a mother; they address her in all their needs; they desire of her remission of sins, health, the life of men, the recovery of the sick, and the resurrection of the dead. Those devoted to her, [have their prayers] advanced above all others. Devotion to the Blessed Virgin is an infallible mark of Predestination. He can’t be damned who prays to the Blessed Virgin. She hath oftentimes fetched men from Hell, she hath raised them to the end that they might do penance, she hath rescued the souls of wicked men out of the hands of devils, though already dragged down into the Bottomless Pit. Persons rejected by the Son have been received into favor by the Mother, the white ladder of the Virgin’s Milk is a more sure way to ascend to Heaven, then the red ladder of the Blood of Jesus Christ. In the place of the gods and demi-gods of Paganism, aka their Tutelar gods, their household gods, their protecting gods, subordinate to the great god Jupiter, Popery hath put its Saints, taken not only from among the Apostles, Martyrs and Confessors, but from among its bigots, its devout people, its hypocrites, its Monks, its Founders of Orders, its fanatics and proud Pharisees. It hath placed them in Heaven very near unto God. It hath pulled Jesus Christ from the right hand of the Father, where He was to intercede continually for us, and hath placed, in conjunction with Him, its Tutelar and Patron Gods, not only to offer to God their intercessions, but their Merits, for they pray unto God to have regard unto the Merits of these Saints.
These Patron Gods have chapels below their Temples and altars which bear their Names. For here are to be seen the churches and the altars of St. Paul, St. Peter, the Virgin, and other Saints. They have their Sacrifices of the Mass, that is to say, the adorable Body of the Saviour of the World, and God of the Universe, by a worship as fantastical as it is criminal, is offered to the honor of St. Peter, St. Paul, St. Roch and St. Francis. Litanies, prayers, supplications, genuflections, and generally all religious worship is given to these inferior Gods, to these canonized Saints. They have their part [in the lives of the people] everywhere: they are taken for Protectors of Kingdoms, cities, families, while particular persons are placed under their defense. Men beg of them life, health, forgiveness of sins, and eternal happiness. They are constituted Princes, Regents, Governors of the World to break the nations with rods of iron. ‘Tis not enough to adore their persons, men adore their relics; they expose their ashes, their bones, shreds of their clothing, their girdles, their slippers, their shifts, the iron nails, the wood, the blood, the tears of Jesus Christ; the teeth, the milk, the hair of the Virgin; the cradle of infant Christ, and a thousand other things which are shameful to be placed under the Christian name. These relics do wonders, heal the sick, open men’s eyes and raise the dead. They are laid with great respect and honor upon altars; men bow down to them and kiss them with great devotion. They are carried in state about the streets; men cry before them, as before Joseph, they bow the knee; men expect from them rain and fair weather, plenty and abundance, peace and war. In order that Paganism may be complete, they have filled the churches with Idols which they call Holy Images. They paint pictures of God against His express command; they represent Angels by corporeal figures though they are spiritual beings; they set up crosses and crucifixes of wood, stone and metal in all places. The Virgin hath her pictures, where she is painted with a Child in her arms. All the Saints have their seats in their churches and upon their altars; men fall down before them, they offer Incense to them, they kiss them, and their actions towards them are as if they thought some divine virtue in them. For although the Doctors do sometimes say that we ought not to affix any divine virtue to them; they do nevertheless authorize, by their toleration and examples, the madness of the people who make their Nine-Days Devotions [Novenas] and Pilgrimages to them; who rub their beads and their handkerchiefs on them, who make their children touch them for sanctification. They dress them up in a stately manner for their Festivals, they crown them with flowers and garlands, they carry them in pomp and cause them to go in Procession, they put their confidence in these relics and images. The most devout persons bear a little piece of the pretended Wood of the Cross, or some small filings of the Nails thereof, or a pretended Thorn of His Crown; or a small piece of the Bone of a Saint. They carry, say I, these as preservatives against the Devil, against death, and all perils by sea and land. Every family has his Patron, every person his Saint, for whom he hath a singular devotion; he hath the image thereof placed in his oratory, he prostrates himself, praying before it.
In order to indemnify the true God for all the losses which He hath sustained due to worship given to His creatures, they have dedicated an Idol particularly to Him which they call the Sacrament of the Altar; there they adore, in His honor, a little morsel of dry and flat paste, which in great reverence they call Our Lord; which they insist all the world adore with great ceremony, which they carry in state about the streets, that everyone may worship it, and whoever does not is considered execrable and accursed. They enclose Jesus Christ [in a pyx], in a state of annihilation, without head, feet, hands, soul, motion, or life, subject to be eaten by rats, stolen by thieves, trod under foot by the profane, and vomited by the sick. But in compensation to God, they adore this Tomb of Jesus Christ, as the sovereign God, Creator of earth and heaven. If, on the one hand, they have corrupted the worship by adding to the Eucharist that which is not there, on the other hand, they have taken away half thereof: they give but one part of the Sacrament, and by so doing give nothing. They have made private Masses contrary to the Institution of Jesus Christ, and the custom of all sound antiquity. To conclude, what have they not done, to disfigure the worship of God? How many vain and ridiculous ceremonies are of no use? How many signs of the Cross, Holy Waters, Exorcisms, Agnus Dei’s, and other antics? And above all, they cover this with the vail of an unknown tongue; they speak Latin to the peasants of France, Germany, and Spain, who are edified as much as if they spoke Arabic.
Behold, my Brethren, I recite a very short, but very true picture of Popery. After this, will you think that our Separation was unjust? You will yet say that we must bear many things; and that ’tis a religion in which a man may easily be saved. In the Name of God do not say that this description is extravagant and that you do not see all I described. For ’tis a true description of Popery, such as it hath been in France, as well as elsewhere, for more than seven or eight hundred years. There is no man who knows anything of antiquity that can disagree with this description, for ’tis at this day the Popery of Italy, Spain, Portugal, and all the countries where the Reformation hath not been tolerated. Yet at this day do the people of Spain and Portugal know anything more than the names of God and of Jesus Christ? The object of their devotion is an image which works miracles on the top of a mountain, or in some Monastery’s church; and their piety is seen in foolish and pagan Processions in which are mingled only things which render a ridiculous and impious devotion. The Bible is imprisoned in those unhappy countries: An illustrious [Protestant] Fugitive carried one thither, so the Inquisition, who laid hands on him, seized it and kept it, as you keep a dangerous enemy; and never could that illustrious Exile get it out of their hands, till he went out of the country; then they permitted this dangerous Book to carry its poison elsewhere. God grant that you may give attention to all this, to the end that you may remain fully persuaded that your Fathers were obliged to separate from the Church of Rome, and that you cannot return thither without Damnation.
An answer to the accusation that without Miracles Protestantism is proven false and not of God.
Why should our Reformers work Miracles and why were they obliged thereunto? When Jehu reformed the Church of Israel by pulling down the Temples of Baal, breaking in pieces the statues, rooting out Baal’s prophets, and abolishing Baal’s worship, did he work Miracles or had he any need thereof? Was it any blemish to that holy reformation that Josiah wrought no Miracles when he re-established the service of God which was almost wholly under a dunghill of alien idolatries? When Theodosius the Great reformed the Christian Church and drove away Arianism which had become the reigning religion, did he do Miracles, or had he any need thereof? There is no need to work Miracles except 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 which was opposite to their beliefs. We [Protestants] brought no new Gospel into the world. Rather, we propounded the Old and the New Testament; both were received, without contradiction, by all those Christians whom we desired to reform. When it shall please God to convert the Jews to Christianity, according to His promises, it is highly probable that He will necessarily send them Prophets who will work Miracles. For although the Gospel-Revelation is already manifested and we have the Books of the Evangelists and the Apostles, nevertheless, they mean nothing to the Jews because they do not esteem our Books as Canonical. Rather, they believe the Apostles to be cheats and impostors. There is, therefore, a need for 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 ourselves. Otherwise, as often as the Kings of Judah produced the Law of Moses to make reformation in their Church, they would have 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 ’tis 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 beliefs and to endue them with such as are good that they may hearken to the truth. Furthermore, men who believe not Christianity, but only for the sake of its Miracles, are very sinful and wicked [professing] Christians. And among those who became converts by the preaching of the Apostles, who had no other reason to embrace this new religion, but the Miracles which they saw done by those who preached it, were very wretched converts; such persons are the seed of Apostacy, and adhere to the Church but by a very feeble root. We, on the other hand, ought to adhere to it for the love of truth. For ’tis the knowledge of the truth, and not the sight of Miracle, which gives birth to the love thereof. If Miracles be not necessary for the conversion of unbelievers, with far greater reason they cannot be necessary for the bringing back of wandering Christians to the right way. For there needs nothing more than to shew them the holy Scripture, which so exactly marks out the path in which they ought to walk. As to what they [Catholic leadership] say, that those who attempt to establish a new ministry must have Miracles for the support of it, ’tis an affair to be treated 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.
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