Confession Of Jacques D’Auchy, Made Before The Commissary And The Inquisitor.

“Where then is the people who must follow their Master through suffering and affliction to eternal life, as Christ has said that they should be hated for his name’s sake.” Matt. 10:22. Inq. “This was spoken to the apostles only.” Jac. “How comes it then that Paul says that all that will live godly in Christ Jesus, shall suffer persecution? 2 Tim. 3:12. And the prophet says that the afflictions of the righteous shall be many, but that the Lord delivers them out of all evil.” Ps. 34:10. Inq. “This means that the devil will always cause them enough temptation and affliction.” Jac. “Paul speaks of persecution, and not of temptation; nor can I conceive that Christ spoke of temptation, when he said: They will scourge you in their synagogues, and persecute you unto death, and will think that they do God service thereby; and ye shall be hated of father and mother, brethren and friends, and some of you they shall put to death.” Matt. 10:17,21; John 16:2. Inq. “Well, this was spoken only to the apostles.” Jac. “Does not Christ speak there of all that believed in his name?” Inq. “He spoke to the apostles only, who should suffer when going about proclaiming the gospel; but that afterwards they should cease to persecute them.” Jac. “How came it that the churches suffered such cruel persecution? and yet they were not all apostles.” Inq. “How so?” Jac. “Even as Luke testifies, Acts 17:13, and Paul 1 Thess. 2:14. Yea, you yourself, my lord, know full well what Eusebius, one of the ancient teachers, writes in the eighth chapter of his fourth book. In writing of the primitive church, in what suffering and contempt they were, does he not say that the people regarded them as robbers, murderers, infanticides, and abominable men, and said that they committed incest with their mothers and sisters, shed human blood in their worship, and sacrificed their children unto idols; they were also considered seditious persons, accursed villians, and enemies of God and every creature, and were charged with many other wickednesses imputed to them by the world, is it not so, my lord? as also the ancient writers Cyprian and Tertullian write.” Inq. “It is so; this is all very true; but it was done by those who had no knowledge of the gospel.” Jac. “I indeed believe that if they had believed the Gospel, they would not have persecuted them, nor uttered such slanders against them; but it has always been so, that even those who boasted of having the word of God persecuted them that sought to fear the Lord, and to serve God with all their heart, even as you see in Israel, those who ought to have confirmed the honor and law of God, put to death the prophets that were sent to them, and those who knew the Lord from a pure heart.” Jer. 18:18. Inq. “For this reason the wicked are always among the good, and the chaff remains with the good grain to the end.”

We had much more conversation yet in regard to this matter; finally he asked me my decision concerning baptism and the sacrament, to which I replied as I had done at other times. He then left me, enjoining me to ask God to give me understanding to return, as he said, to the holy Catholic church.