the continuance of your benevolence, being, with great sincerity, Gentlemen, Your most humble, most obedient, Metz, March 30, 1632, FERRY. M. Mestrezat, a learned divine of the church of Paris, writ two letters to M. Chabrey, his brother-in-law, and minister of Geneva; wherein I find two passages, that deserve likewise to be imparted to the publick. M. Mestrezat thought Anthoine had been a monk. His first letter is dated from Paris, March 12, 1632. 'I am troubled for you (says he, in that letter) about your Antitrinitarian. The writings of our predecessors, de puniendis Hæreticis, have not been very edifying, and prove very prejudicial to us, in the countries where the magistrates are our enemies. It is true, the enormity of that man, his blasphemies, his profession of Christianity, and his ministry, aggravate his crime. May God Almighty direct your magistrates in the matter! If every body had the same thoughts of monks, as I have, none of them should ever be admitted into the holy ministry. I pray God to remove, by the efficacy of his word, the scandal occasioned by that profligate man, and to keep you under his pro tection.' The second letter of M. Mestrezat is only dated March 30, 1632, but it was likewise written from Paris. The following passage is to be found in it: 'As to what concerns your Jewish monk, and revolted minister, the most judicious persons in this town wish he may be confined to a perpetual imprisonment, and not be allowed to see any body, but such as are qualified to reclaim him. They are very much afraid of the consequences of a publick execution, lest it should be inferred from it, by our adversaries in these parts, that words spoken against the Pope (the pretended Vicar of Jesus Christ) or against the Host of the Mass, are likewise blasphemies against Christ, and ought to be punished in the same manner; for they talk in the same strain, and all supreme magistrates are judges of consequences, in their jurisdictions.' Whilst Nicholas Anthoine was a prisoner, he presented three petitions to the Council. The first is dated March 11, 1632, and begins thus: In the name of the great God of Heaven, who is the mighty God of Israel: His holy name be blessed for ever. Amen. He beseeches the Council to get some papers concerning his faith restored to him, which he had delivered to a divine, who asked for them in their name; that he may revise, correct, and finish them, before any thing be inferred from them. And then he adds: Enquerez vous de ma vie, &c. That is, 'Enquire into my life; I have always endeavoured to live in the fear of God, and to seek and follow the right way to salvation. God discovers his secret to those who honour him. What I do is only to give an account of my faith, to the glory of God, and for the salvation of my soul. God knows my heart, and is a witness to my integ. rity and innocence. Do not draw innocent blood upon your heads, nor upon your families, and your city; and God, in whose hands we all are, will bless you, if you love his holy ways. I beseech him with all my soul to bless you, and to touch your hearts, that you may be moved with pity and compassion towards me, the poor and afflicted servant of the Lord, &c.' Anthoine presented his second petition the next day, March 12; which I shall insert at length. In the name of the Lord, the God of Israel. Magnificent and most Honoured Lords, 'What I am going to represent to you is not with an intent to avoid death. According to God, I do not deserve it; for I fear him, I love him, and bless him, and will bless and worship his holy, glorious, and adorable name to my last breath. Nevertheless, according to your laws and belief, and what is commonly objected to me, you will think I justly deserve it. If God would be pleased to do it, he would shew his great wonders, by delivering me; not for my sake, who am a poor and miserable sinner, but to glorify his great and adorable name, and that all the earth might know, that he is the Almighty God, who reigns in the world. I invoke his holy name, and implore his grace and mercy. Whosoever puts his trust in the Lord shall never be ashamed. Why should we be afraid of men? God is above all, and nothing comes to pass without his permission. Magnificent and most honoured Lords; Since two things are commonly objected to me, 1. That I have strayed from the way to salvation. 2. That, though I were in the right way to salvation, yet, having such a belief, I should not have embraced the office of minister, nor come into your city to give you offence; by your leave, I shall endeavour to answer those two points in a few words. As to the first point, I believe I am in the way to truth and salvation, and shall persevere in it, till I am shewed the contrary by good reasons taken from the Old Testament. I worship one only God; I endeavour to follow the law, to the best of my power; I will fear, love, and bless the holy name of God to the end of my life. As to the second point, your Lordships must know, that the people of Israel refused to admit me among them, and told me that I might live every where, and among all nations, in the fear of God, without discovering my opinions. I have endured a thousand hardships in my way to Venice, and in that city, where I have been, ior some time, in a very miserable condition; and I came away more afflicted still, and more miserable; nevertheless, I always put my trust in the Lord. I could not resolve to live among the Papists, for I had sworn to do it no more, having a great abhorrence for their idolatry. Besides, I was afraid of being charged with inconstancy. Nay, had I been discovered Lord. among them, they would have been more cruel to me, than your ships use to be towards those, who are not accused of any crime, but only prosecuted for religion. I have embraced the ministry, because I thought I was sufficiently qualified for it; because I was far in years; because I was willing to keep house, and, perhaps, to marry in time; and I had no mind to discover myself at that time. How many are married, and perhaps have quite another belief than yours, and yet will not leave and forsake their children upon such an account! As for what is said, that I have scandalised you and your city by my strange proceedings, it was through a disordered mind; it is not I; I do not know who it was: God knows it; and therefore, I think, I deserve to be pardoned in that respect, since it was not I, but a terrible, dreadful, and supernatural power, as the whole town may witness, and no body will be offended at it. Rather than come and surrender myself into your hands, of my own motion, I had rather have fled to the remotest part of the world. 'Magnificent and most honoured Lords; Have a care you do not draw innocent blood upon your heads, and your families, and city, by putting me to death; for, perhaps, you know not the wonders of God, the mighty God of Israel, and why he has so miraculously transported me into this town. If the beginning of it has been miraculous, perhaps the end will be more miraculous still. I shall never be ashamed, because the Lord is my trust and refuge. Let the holy name of the Lord, the great God of Israel, be for ever blessed and glorified by all men, and in all places. 'Magnificent and most honoured Lords; If you think I deserve to be put to death, and if the Lord God is pleased it should be so, his will be done. If you release me, you will release an innocent soul, which fears the God of heaven. I pray God with all my heart, that he would be pleased to pour his most holy blessings upon you, and to move your hearts, if it be his good will; being, Magnificent and most honoured Lords, Geneva, March 12, 1632. Your most humble servant and prisoner, On the Eleventh of April, Anthoine was brought to his tryal, and, besides several other things, which I have already mentioned, he declared that he was a Jew, beseeching God to grant him, that he might die for the Jewish religion; that he believed there had been such a man as Jesus Christ, but he knew not whether he had been crucified; that he did not believe him to be God, nor the Son of God, nor the Messias, since there is but one God, without any distinction of persons, and the time of the Messias was not come yet; that he rejected the New Testament, because he found many contradictions in it, and because it did not agree with the Old; that he got himself admitted into the ministry, because the Jews told him he might outwardly profess any religion, without endangering his salvation, and because he wanted a livelihood; that, when he took the usual oaths, it was with a mental reservation to what was true and reasonable; that, being so far en gaged, he could not avoid reciting the apostle's creed, and adminis tering the communion; that he never pronounced distinctly the articles of the creed, which concern our Saviour: that he took his texts out of the Psalms, and the Prophet Isaiah; that the next day, after he had preached upon the second Psalm, without applying it to Jesus Christ, he fell into a fit of madness, as he was singing the seventy-fourth Psalm; that he was mad when he came to Geneva, and called Jesus Christ an Idol, &c. that it was true, he had affirmed, that the passages of the Old Testament, quoted in the New, were strained, far-fetched, and wretchedly applied; that he had renounced his Baptism, and continued to do so. Afterwards they shewed him a paper written with his own hand, but not subscribed by him, which contained these words: 'I acknowledge and confess, that Jesus Christ crucified is the true God, Saviour, and Redeemer of the whole world; and that he is the same with the Father and the Holy Ghost, as to his essence, but distinct, as to his person.' His answer was: That he had been forced to write that confession; and he disowned the doctrine contained in it. Then the famous passage of Josephus, concerning Christ, was alledged against him; to which he made no answer. Being asked, whether he persisted to renounce his Baptism? He said he did. Being exhorted to confess, whether he had frequented the bawdy-houses at Venice, he answered, that he could make no such confession, and prayed God to discover his innocence; adding, that the most beautiful woman in the world would not have tempted him; and then, bending his head, he intreated God to take pity on him, &c. The first Syndic alledged to him several passages of the Old Testament concerning Christ, and then the prisoner was recommitted. On the sixteenth of April, he was brought again to the bar. His chief answers were: That he had never dogmatised at Geneva; that, when he gave the communion in his church at Divonne, he used these words 6 Remember the death of your Saviour;' that he administered Baptism, as other ministers did; that he was in the way to salvation, and fully resolved, with God's assistance, to die for the truth of his doctrine. Whereupon, the Council condemned him, on the the twentieth of April, to be strangled and burnt, and their sentence was executed on the same day. It imports, that Nicholas Anthoine, laying aside all fear of God, was guilty of apostacy and high treason towards God, having opposed the Holy Trinity, denied our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ, blasphemed against his holy name, renounced his Baptism to embrace Judaism and circumcision, and perjured himself. Which are great and horrid crimes, &c.' The above-mentioned letter of M. Ferry had such an effect upon the ministers of Geneva, that they went in a body to the Council, and intreated the magistrates to put off his execution for some time; but it was to no purpose. SOME SMALL AND SIMPLE REASONS, DELIVERED IN A HOLLOW-TREE, IN WALTHAM FOREST, IN A LECTURE, ON THE THIRTY-THIRD OF MARCH LAST. BY AMINADAB BLOWER, A DEVOUT BELLOWS-MENDER OF PIMLICO. Shewing the Causes in general and particular, wherefore they do, might, would, should or ought, except against and quite refuse the Liturgy or Book of Common-Prayer. Printed, Anno Millimo, Quillimo, Trillimo. Quarto, containing eight pages. MY dear beloved and zealous brethren and sisters here assembled in this holy congregation, I am to unfold, unravel, untwist, untye, unloose, and undo, to your uncapable understandings, some small reasons, the matter, the causes, the motives, the grounds, the principles, the maxims, the why's and the wherefores, wherefore and why, we reject, omit, abandon, contemn, despise, and are and ought to be withstanders and opposers of the service-book, called by the hard name of Liturgy, or Common-Prayer, which hath continued in the church of England eighty-four years. I have exactly examined and collected some notes and observations out of the learned Hebrew translated volumes of Rabbi Ananias, Rabbi Ahitophel, Rabbi Iscariot, Rabbi Simon Magus, Rabbi Demas, and Rabbi Alexander the coppersmith, and all nor any of their writings doth in any place so much as mention that book, or any such kind of service to be used at all by them. I have farther taken pains in looking over some Chaldean, Persian, Egyptian, Arabian, and Arminian authors, of which I understood not one word; I also (with the like diligence and understanding have viewed the Turkish Alchoran, and there I found not a syllable concerning either liturgy, commonprayer, or divine service. As for Greek Authors, I must confess I understand them not, or negatively, for which reason I leave them as |