not annexed to the sensible species but to the proper substance of his flesh which is living and life-giving because of the Divinity which is united to it Upon which account all those who believe the real presence ought not to have any difficulty to communicate under one sole species because they there receive all that is essential to this Sacrament together with a plenitude so secure because there being now no real seperation betwixt the Body and the Blood as hath been said we receive entirely and without division him who is solely capable to satiate us This is the solid foundation upon which the Church interpreting the precept of Communion as declared we may receive the Sanctification which this Sacrament carries with it under one sole species and if she have reduced her Children to this sole species it was not out of disesteem of the other seeing on the contrary she did it to hinder those Irreverences which the confusion and negligence of people had occasioned in these later ages reserving to her self the re-establishment of communion under both kinds according as it should become more advantagious to Peace and Unity Catholic Divines have made it appear to those of the pretended Reformation that they have themselves made use of several such like Interpretations in what belongs to the use of the Sacrament but above all they had reason to remark this which is taken out of the 12 chap. of their discipline Title of the Lords Supper art 7. where we find these words The Bread of the Lords Supper ought to be administred to those who cannot drink wine upon their making protestation that it is not out of contempt and endeavouring what they can possibly to obviate all Scandal even by approaching the cup as neer their mouths as they are able They have judged by this regulation that both species were not by the institution of JESVS CHRIST essential to the Communion otherwise they ought to have absolutely refused the Sacrament to those who could not receive it whole and entire and not to give it them after a manner contrary to that which JESVS CHRIST had commanded in which case their disability would have been their excuse But our adversaries conceived it would be an excessive rigour not to allow at least one of the species to those who could not receive the other and as this condescendence has no ground in Scripture they must acknowledge with us the words by which JESVS CHRIST proposes to us the two species are liable to some interpretation and that this interpretation ought to be declared by the authority of the Church But it might seem as if this article of their discipline which was made in the Synod of Poitiers held in the year 1560 had been reformed by the Synod of Vertueil held in the year 1567. where it is said the company is not of opinion the bread should be administred to those who would not receive the Cup. These two Synods nevertheless are no ways opposite That of Vertueil speaks only of those who will not receive the Cup And that of Poitiers of these only who cannot In effect notwithstanding the Synod of Vertueil this article remains in their discipline and has been also approved by a latter Synod then that of Vertueil by the Synod of la Rochell in 1571 where this article was review'd and put into that stare in which it now is But supposing the Synods of the pretended reform'd Religion had differed in their sentiments it would only follow that the matter in question regards not Faith and that it is of the number of those which are at the Churches disposal according to their own Principles SECT XVIII The written and unwritten Word THERE remains nothing more now but to explicate what Catholics believe touching the Word of God and the Authority of the Church JESVS CHRIST having laid the Foundation of his Church by Preaching the unwritten Word was the first Rule of Christianity and when the Writings of the New Testament were added this unwritten Word did not upon that account lose its Authority which makes us reiceive with equal veneration all that was ever taught by the Apostles whether by Writing or byword of Mouth as St. Paul himself has expresly declared And it is a most certain sign 2 Thes 2.14 a Doctrine comes from the Apostles when it is universally embraced by all Christian Churches without any possibility of shewing its beginning We cannot chuse but receive all that is established after this manner with the submission due to Divine Authority and we are persuaded those of the Pretended Reformation who are not obstinate are in the bottom of their Hearts of the same Opinion it being impossible to believe a Doctrine received from the beginning of the Church can flow from any other source than that of the Apostles Wherefore our Adversaries ought not to wonder if we who are careful to gather together all our Fathers have left us should conserve the Depositum of Tradition as well as that of the Scriptures SECT XIX The Authority of the Church THE Church being established by God to be the Guardian of Scripture and Tradition we receive the Canonical Scriptures from her and let our Adversaries say what they will we doubt not but it is her Authority which principally determines them to reverence as Divine Books the Canticle of Canticles which has so few visible marks of a Prophetical Inspiration the Epistle of St. James which Luther rejected and that of St. Jude which might appear suspected because of some Apocriphal Books cited in it In fine it can only be from this Authority they receive the whole Body of Scripture which all Christians accept as Divine before their reading of it has made them sensible of the Spirit of God in it Being then inseparably bound as we are to the Holy Authority of the Church by means of the Scriptures which we receive from her Hands we learn Tradition also from her and by the means of Tradition we learn the true sence of Scripture Upon which account the Church professes she tells us nothing from her self and that she invents nothing new in her Doctrine she does nothing but declare the Divine Revelation by the interiour direction of the Holy Ghost who is given to her as her teacher That Dispute which was raised in the very time of the Apostles upon account of the Ceremonies of the Law shews clearly that the Holy Ghost explicates himself by the Church and their Acts have by the method by which that first Contest was decided taught all succeeding Ages by what Authority all other differences are to be ended So that as often as there shall happen any Disputes to cause a Division amongst the Faithful the Church will interpose her Authority and her Pastors assembled will say after the Apostles Act. 15.28 It his seemed good to the Holy Ghost and to us And when she has spoken her Children will be taught they ought not to begin
means to reunite our minds We may say the same to these of the Pretended Reform'd Religion If the Merit of Good Works if Prayers addressed to Saints if the Eucharist if the humble satisfactions of Penitents who endeavour to appease the wrath of God in voluntarily revenging upon themselves by Laborious Exercises his offended Justice if the Terms we use of a Tradition which claims its Origin from the first Ages for want of being rightly understood offend you The Author of the Exposition offers himself to give you the plain and natural explication of them which the Church has always faithfully conserv'd He says nothing of his own he alledges not particular Authors and to the end he may not be suspected of changing the Tenets of the Church he uses the proper Terms of the Council of Trent where she has explicated her self upon these matters in question what can there be more rational This was the second thing he promised and he has in this only followed the Example of the Pretended Reform'd They complain as well as we their Doctrines are not rightly understood and the means they propose to come to a true knowledge of them is not different from that which M. de Condom makes use of Their Synod of Dort requires that none judge of the Faith of their Churches from Calumnies picked up here and there Conclusio Synodi Dordrac in Syntag. Confess Fidei edit Genev. p. 2. or passages of particular Authors which are often falsely cited or wrested to a sense contrary to their Intentions but from the Confessions of Faith of their Churches and from the Declaration of their Orthodox Doctrine unanimously made in this Synod The Faith then of a Church must be learnt from its publick Definitions and not from Private Authors who may be falsely quoted mis-understood and may also themselves mis-explicate the Sentiments of their Religion Upon which account it will be only necessary that to expound ours to the Pretended Reform'd we produce the Decisions of the Council of Trent I know the very name of this Council offends those of the Reformation and the Anonymus often shews his ill humour against it But what do his Invectives avail him We go not here about to justifie the Council It suffices for this Author of the Exposition that the Doctrine of this Council is universally received without Contestation through the whole Catholic Church and that she admits of no other Decisions in these matters of controversie but of this Council The Pretended Reform'd have always endeavoured to have these Decisions thought ambiguous and the Anonymus reproaches us also with their being capable of a double or triple sense Those who have not read this Council An. p. 11.12 unless it were in the Invectives of their Ministers and in the History of Fa. Paul the declared Enemy of it believe them such but one word will satisfie them It is very true there was some Points the Council would not decide and they were those concerning which there was no settled Tradition and which were disputed of in the Schools It was but reasonable they should be left undecided but for those it has decided it has spoken so precisely that amongst so many Decrees of this Council produced in the Exposition the Anonymus could not find so much as one in which there was this double or triple sence he objects against us In effect It is but reading them and one shall see they have not any ambiguity and that it is impossible for men to explicate themselves more clearly We may put the Exposition it self to the same Test and judge by that whether the Anonymus had reason to upbraid the Author of this Exposition with those rambling and general Terms in which says he he entanglingly wraps up the most difficult matters Avert p. 25. Rep. p. 12. The third thing the Author of the Exposition promised was to treat of those matters which gave occasion to the Separation This is precisely what ought to be done There is no one who knows not that in disputes there are always some certain principal points upon which mens minds are fixed It is to these a Person must apply himself who would make it his business to end or appease those contests Thus did the Author of the Exposition who immediately declared to the Pretended Reform'd that he would expound to them those points from which they took the Subject of their separation And to the end there should be no surprize Exp. p. 2. he again declares the same at the end that to keep himself fixed to what is principal Exp. p. 50. he omitted some questions which they of the Pretended Reform'd Religion did not look upon as a lawful Subject of separation He has kept his word most faithfully and the Titles alone of the Exposition will make it appear he has not omitted any one of those principal Articles So that the Anonymus should not have said that M. de Condom has some select Terms to avoid the difficulties which give him the most trouble Avert p. 22. that he leaves many questions untouched and makes hast to that of the Eucharist where he thought he could enlarge himself with less disadvantage Repl. p. 168. What an Idea would he give us of this Book of the Exposition but it destroys it self Every one sees it was M. de Condom's business to enlarge himself upon that point of the Eucharist not because he thought he could do it with less disadvantage but because this point is in reality the most difficult and full of great questions So that it will appear he has treated these matters with less or greater scope according as they appear'd less or more embroiling not to him but to those for whom he writes And if it be true that he lays aside those difficulties which give him the most trouble it must be allow'd those which give him the least are in reality those which are the most essential and those in which the Pretended Reform'd always thought themselves the most secure He has treated of the worship due to God of Prayers to Saints of the honour we render to them as also to their Images and Reliques He has spoken of justifying Grace of the Merit of Good Works of the necessity of Works of Satisfaction of Purgatory of Indulgences of Sacramental Confession and Absolution of the Real Presence of the Body and Blood of our Saviour in the Eucharist of that Adoration which is therein due to him of Transubstantiation and the Sacrifice of the Altar of Communion under one Species of the Authority of Tradition and that of the Church of the Divine Institution of the Popes Primacy where he has in one word explained what is to be believed of Episcopacy He has expounded all these difficulties and there needs only a little honesty to grant that he has been so far from avoiding difficulties as the Anonymus would have it thought that he has principally applied
we have spoken come not from any defect in the payment but from a certain order which he has established to retain us in a saving discipline by just apprehensions But if they also tell us we believe we can of our own selves satisfy for some part of the pain due to our sins we can with confidence assure them the contrary appears by the maxims we have established Which maxims make it clearly appear that our Salvation is no other but a work of Mercy and Grace that what we do by the Grace of God is no less his work then what he dos alone by his absolute power and lastly that what we give to him appertains no less to him that what he gives to us To which we must add that what we call Satisfaction following the Example of the primitive Church is after all nothing but the application of the infinite satisfaction of JESVS CHRIST This very consideration ought to appease those who are offended when we tell them that God is so well pleased with fraternal charity and the communion of Saints that he frequently also accepts of those Satisfactions which we offer up one for another It seems these men do not conceive how much all we are belongs to God nor how all the favours which his Goodness makes him have for the faithful the members of JESVS CHRIST are necessarily referred to this divine head But certainly those who have read and considered how God himself inspires his servants with a desire to afflict themselves with fasting hair-cloth and ashes not only for their own sins but also for the sins of all the people will not be astonished if we say that being touched with the delight he has to gratify his friends he mercifully accepts of the humble sacrifice of their voluntary mortifications in abatement of those chastisements which he prepared for his people which shows that being satisfied by these he renders himself more mild towards the others by this means honouring his Son JESVS CHRIST in the communion of his members and in the holy society of his mystical body SECT IX The Sacraments THE Order of Doctrine requires that we now speak of the Sacraments by which the merits of JESVS CHRIST are applyed to us Seeing the disputes we have concerning them if we except the Eucharist are not so hot as the others we will in the first place clear in short the cheifest difficuties which are raised concerning the other and reserve the Eucharist which is the most important of all the rest till the last The Sacraments of the new Covenant are not sacred signs only which represent Grace nor seals which confirm it to us but the Instruments of the Holy Ghost which serve to apply it to us and which confer it upon us by vertue of the words which are pronounced and the exteriour action which is performed upon condition that we put not not any Impediment by our not being rightly disposed Whilst God annexes so great Grace to exteriour signs which have not of their own nature any proportion with so admirable an effect he shows us clearly that besides all we can do interiourly of our solves by our good dispositions there must necessarily intervene before we can be justified a special operation of the Holy Ghost and a peculiar application of the merit of our Saviour which is exhibited to us by the Sacraments So that this Doctrine cannot be rejected without injuring the merits of JESVS CHRIST and the operation of his divine power in our regeneration We acknowledg seven sacred signs or Ceremonies established by JESVS CHRIST as the ordinary means for the Sanctification and perfection of the new man Their divine institution appears in the holy Scripture either by the express words of JESVS CHRIST who established them or by the Grace which according to the same Scripture is annexed to them and necessarily shows a divine institution Baptism Seeing little Children cannot supply the want of Baptism by acts of Faith Hope and Charity nor by the vow to receive this Sacrament we believe that if they do not really receive it they do not in any manner partake of the Grace of redemption and therefore dying in Adam they have not any part in JESVS CHRIST It is good to observe here that the Lutherans believe with the Catholic Church the absolute necessity of Baptism and are astonished with her that such a truth should be denied which never any one before Calvin durst openly call in question it was so firmly rooted in the minds of all the faithful Nevertheless the Pretended Reform'd are not apprehensive voluntarily to let their Children dye like the Children of Infidels without bearing any mark of Christianity and without receiving any grace if their deaths should chance to prevent the day of their assembly Confirmation The Imposition of hands practised by the Holy Apostles to confirm the Faithful against Persecutions having its principal effect in the interiour descent of the Holy Ghost Act. 8.15.17 and the infusion of his gifts it ought not to have been rejected by our adversaries under pretence that the Holy Ghost descends now no more visibly upon us Thus all Christian Churches since the Apostles times have religiously retained it making use also of Holy Chrism to shew the vertue of this Sacrament by a more express representation of the interiour unction of the Holy Ghost Penance and Sacramental Confession We believe that JESVS CHRIST has been pleased those who have submitted themselves to the Authority of the Church by Baptism and who have since violated the laws of the Gospel should come and submit themselves to the Judgment of the same Church in the Tribunal of Penance Math. 18.18 John 20.23 where she exercises the power which is given her of remitting and retaining sins The terms of that commission which is given to the Ministers of the Church to absolve from sin are so general they cannot without temerity be restrained to publick sins and seeing when they pronounce that absolution in the name of JESVS CHRIST they only follow the express terms of this Commission the sentence is looked upon as rendred by JESVS CHRIST himself by whom they are established Judges It is this invisible High Priest who interiourly absolves the Penitent whilst the Priest exteriourly exercises the function This Penitential Court of Judicature being so necessary a curb to liberty a source so fruitful of wise admonitions so sensible a consolation for souls afflicted for their Sins when their absolution is not only declared in general terms as it is practised by the Ministers but when they are in reality absolved by the authority of JESVS CHRIST after a particular examination and knowledg of the Case we cannot believe that our adversaries can look upon so many benefits without regretting their loss and without being somewhat ashamed of a Reformation which has cast off so saving and so holy a practise Extream Vnction The Holy Ghost having according to the testimony of St. James
again to examine those Articles once so resolved on but are bound humbly to receive her Decisions In this we shall follow the example of St. Paul and Silas who carried this first Sentence of the Apostles to the Faithful and were so far from permitting a new Discussion of what had been decided that on the contrary They went from place to place Acts 16.4 teaching them to observe the Ordinances of the Apostles Thus it is the Children of God acquiess in the Judgment of the Church believing that from her Mouth they hear the Oracle of the Holy Ghost and upon account of this belief it is that after having said in our Creed I believe in the Holy Ghost we add immediately The Holy Catholic Church by which we oblige our selves to acknowledg an infallible and perpetual verity in the universal Church because this very Church which we believe existent in all Ages would cease to be the Church if she ceased to teach the truth revealed by God So that those who apprehend least she should abuse her Power to establish a Lye have no Faith in him by whom she is governed And if our Adversaries would but look upon these things in a more mild and candid manner they would be obliged to acknowledg the Catholic Church is so far from making her self Mistress of her Faith as they have accused her that on the contrary she has done what she could to bind and deprive herself of all the means of Innovation seeing she not only submits herself to the Holy Scriptures but to the end she might for ever banish all arbitrary Interpretations which make Mens Imaginations pass for Scripture she has obliged herself to interpret them in what relates to Faith and Manners Conc. Trid. Sess 14. according to the sence of the Holy Fathers from which she prosesseth never to depart declaring in all her Councils and in all the Professions of Faith she has published that she does not receive any Doctrine which is not conformable to the Tradition of all preceding Ages Moreover if our Adversaries consult their Consciences they will find the name of the Church has more Authority over them than they dare avouch in their disputes and I do not think there is any one Prudent Man amongst them who finding himself the only Person of a Perswasion tho it appeared to him never so Evident but would abhor that Singularity so true it is that Men have need in these matters to be supported in their Tenets by the Authority of some Society that is of the same opinion with them And for this reason God who created us and who knows what is most proper for us hath ordained for our Good that all Particulars should be subject to the Authority of his Church which of all other Authorities is without doubt the best Established In effect it is established not only by that Testimony which God himself gives of it in the Holy Scriptures but also by the marks of his divine Protection which are no less visible in the inviolable and perpetual subsistence of it than in its miraculous Establishment SECT XX. The Sentiments of those of the Pretended Reform'd Religion concerning the Authority of the Church THIS Supream Authority of the Church is so necessary to regulate the differences which arise in matters of Faith and about the Sense of Scripture that our Adversaries themselves after having decryed it as an unsupportable Tyranny have been at last obliged to establish it amongst themselves When those who are called Independents declared openly that each one of the Faithful ought to follow the light of his own Conscience without submitting his Judgment to the Authority of any Body or Ecclesiastical Assembly and upon this Ground refused to submit toany Synods That of Charenton held 1644. censured this Doctrine upon the same Reasons and for the same Inconveniencies for which we reject it This Synod observes in the first place that this Error of the Independents consists in this that they teach Every Church ought to be governed by her proper Laws without a dependance upon any Person in Ecclesiastical Matters and without any Obligation to acknowledg the Authority of Conferences and Synods for her regulation and conduct After which this Synod determines that this Sect is a prejudicial to the State as to the Church that it opens a door to all sorts of Irregularities and Extravagancies that it takes away all the means of applying any remedy to it and that if it took place there might be as many Religions framed as Parishes or particular Assemblies These last words shew it is principally in matters of Faith this Synod would establish a Dependance seeing the greatest Inconvenience into which it observes the faithful would fall by an Independence is that there might chance to be as many Religions formed as Parishes Every Church then according to the Doctrine of this Synod and much more every private Person must necessarily depend in what concerns matters of Faith upon some other superior Authority which resides in some Assembly or in some Body to which Authority all the Faithful submit their Judgments For the Independents do not refuse to submit to the Word of God according as they think it ought to be understood nor to accept the decisions of Synods when after having examined them they judg them reasonable What they refuse to do is to submit their Judgments to that of any Assembly for its sake because our Adversaries have taught them that every Assembly even that of the Universal Church is a Society of men subject to Error and to which by consequence a Christian ought not to submit his Judgment that submission being only due to God From this pretention of the Independents it is those inconveniences follow which the Synod of Charenton so well observed For let a man make what Profession he pleaseth to submit himself to the word of God if every one think he has a right to interpret it according to his own Sense and against the Tenets of the Church declared in her last Sentence this pretention will open a door to all sorts of Extravagancies it will take away all the means of applying a remedy because the decision of the Church is not a remedy to those who think themselves not obliged to submit to it in fine it gives way to the framing as many Religions not only as there are Parishes but also as there are Persons To avoid these inconveniencies from whence the ruin of Christianity would follow the Synod of Charenton finds her self obliged to establish a Dependence in Ecclesiastical matters and that even in Points of Faith but this dependence will never hinder those pernicious consequences which they desired to prevent if they do not with us establish this Maxim that every particular Church and much more every particular person amongst the faithful ought to believe themselves obliged to submit their private judgment to the Authority of the Church Thus we see in the 5th chapter of
flock in his paths which those who love Concord amongst Brethren and Ecclesiastical Unanimity will most willingly acknowledg And certainly if the Authors of the Pretended Reformation had loved Unity they would neither have abolished Episcopal Government which was established by JESVS CHRIST himself and which we find in force even in the times of the Apostles nor have despised the Authority of St. Peter's Chair which has so solid a Foundation in the Gospel and so evident a succession in Tradition but they would rather have carefully conserved Episcopal Authority which establisheth unity in particular Churches and the Primacy of St. Peter's Chair which is the common Center of all Catholic Unity SECT XXII Conclusion of this Treatise THIS is the Exposition of the Catholic Doctrine in which that I might tye my self to the most principal I have left some questions untouched which those of the Pretended Reform'd Religion do not look upon as lawful matter for a Separation I hope those of their Communion who shall impartially examin all the Parts of this Treatise will be better disposed by the reading of it to give ear to those proofs upon which the Faith of the Church is established and will in the mean time acknowledg many of our Controversies may be ended by a sincere explication of our Tenets that her Doctrine is Holy and that according to their own Principles no one of her Articles destroys the grounds of Salvation If any one should think fit to answer this Treatise he is desired to consider that to accomplish his intent he must not undertake to refute the Doctrine contained in it seeing my Design was only to propose it without going about to prove it and that if in some Places I have hinted at some of the reasons which establish it it is because the knowledg of the principal reasons of a Doctrine is often a necessary part of it's Explication It would also be a quitting of the design of this Treatise to examin the different methods which Catholic Divines make use of to establish or explicate the Doctrine of the Council of Trent and the different Consequences which particular Doctors have drawn from it To urge any thing solid against this Treatise and which may come home to the point it must be proved that the Churches Faith is not here faithfully expounded and that by Acts which the same Church has obliged herself to receive or else it must be shown that this Explication leaves all the Objections in their full force and all the Disputes untouched or in fine it must be precisely shown in what this Doctrine subverts the Foundations of Faith Lettre de Monseigneur le Cardinal BONA a Monseigneur le Card. de BUILLON HO ricevnto il libro di Monsignor Vescovo di Condom che V. E. si è degnata inviarmi e sì come Conosco la qualità del favore emâ—ne pregio cosi rendo alla sua gentilezza infinite gratie e per il dono e per il pensiero che si pronde di acorescere la mia Libraria L'hò letto con attentione particolare e perche V E. mi accenna che alcuni lo accusano di qualche mancamento hò voluto particolarmente osservare in che potesse esser ripreso Mà realmente non sò trovarci se non materia di grandissima lode perche senza entrare nelle questioni spinose delle controversie conuna maniera ingegnosa facile e famigliare e con metodo per così dire geometrica da certi principii communi approvati convince i Calvenisti e li necessita à consessare la verità della Fede Cattolica Assicuro V. E. di haverlo letto con mia indicibile sodisfattione nè mi maraviglio chegli habbino trovato à dire perche tutte le Opere grandi e che sormontano l'ordinario sempre hanno contradittori Vince però finalmente la verità e da'frutti si conosce la qualità dell'albero Me ne rallegre con l' Autore il quale hà dato saggio del suo gran talento con questa a opera e potrà con molte altre servire lodevolmente à Santa Chiesa Roma 19. Gennaro 1672. Lettre de Monseigneur le Cardinal SIGISMOND CHIG la Monsieur L'Abbé de DANGEAU RICEVEI con la sua lettera ill Libro della Espositione della Dottrina Cattolica del Vescovo di Condom molto erudito e molto utile per convertire gl heretici più con le vive ragioni che con l'asprezza del discorso Parlai al Padre Mastro di S. Palazzo al Segretario dell ' Congregatione dell Indice e conobbi veramente che non viera stato chi havesse a questi Padri parlato in disfavore del medesimo Anzi li trovai pieni di estimatione per il medesimo havendo poi parlato con questi Signori Cardinali della Congregatione trovai frà gl'altri il Signor Cardinale Brancaccio molto inclinato a pregiarlo e molto propenso a lodarne l'Autore Onde io tengo certo che qua ancora Monsignor di Condom ottenga quella lode che e dovuta alla sua fatica alla sua dottrina Resto per tanto obligato alla sua gentilezza che mi ha dato modo di ammirar la medesima mentre mi pare che l'Autore string a bene i suoi argomenti e mostri chiaro i punti nei quali i divisi discordano della Chieza ne credo che il modo che tien l'Autore sia da condannarsi nell'esplicatione di qualche Dottrina insegnata dal Concilio di Trento essendo praticato da molti Scrittori essendo da lui maneggiato molto regolatamente in oltre che l'Autore non ha havuto in mente d'inte pretare i dogmi di quel Concilio ma solo importarlinel suo libro esplicati perche gl'heretici restino convinti in chiaro di tutto quello che la Santa Chiesa gl'obliga di credere Dell'autorita del Papa ne parlabene e con il dovnto rispetto della Sede Romana ogni volià che parla del capo visibile della Chiesa onde torno à dire che non e capace che di lode Roma 5. Aprile 1672. Lettre du Reverendiss Pere HYACINTHE LIBELLI alors Maistre du Sacre Palais maintenant Archevesque d'Avignon a Monseigneur le Cardinal SIGISMOND CHIGI HO letto il Libro del Sig. di Condom continente l'Espositione dellae Dottrina della Chiesa Devo infinite gratie à V. E. che mi habbia fatte consumare quattro hore di tempo sì virtuo samente e con tanto mio diletro Mi è piacciuto sopra modo e per l'Argomento singolare e per le prove che à quello correspondono La Dottrina è tutta sana ne v'ha embra di mancamento No per me sò quello che possa opporvisi e se l'Autore desidererà che si ristamp in Roma da me otterrÃ
contrary full of Esteem for this Work I discoursed of it likewise to the Cardinals of the Congregation and amongst all the rest I found Cardinal Brancas much enclined to praise the Author and esteem the Book So that I doubt not but M. de Condom will receive here the same approbation which has been given him every where else and which is so legitimately due both to his Learning and his Labour I am very much obliged to you for having given me the means of admiring him and have perceived in this your old and ordinary goodness The Author is close in his Proofs and explicates very clearly the Subject he treats on in shewing the true difference betwixt the belief of Catholics and that of the Enemies of the Church I do not think the method he takes to explicate the Doctrine taught in the Council of Trent can in the least be disapprov'd This Method having been practised by many other Writers and being handled throughout his whole Book with great Exactness Certainly it was never his Intention to give the Interpretation of the Tenets of the Council but only to deliver them in his Book rightly explicated in such sort that Heretics may be convinc'd and especially in those things which the Holy Church obliges them to believe He speakes perfectly well of the Popes Authority and whereever he treats of the visible Head of the Church he appears full of respect for the Holy See In fine I must tell you once again M. de Condom cannot be too much commended c. Rome April the 5th 1672. A Letter from the Reverend Father HIACINTHUS LIBELLI at that time Master of the Sacred Palace and now Arch-Bishop of Avignon to the Cardinal SIGISMOND CHIGI I Have read M. de Condom's Book which contains an Exposition of the Doctrine of the Church I am extreamly indebted to your Eminence for giving me the opportunity of employing four hours so profitably and with so much Pleasure It is impossible for me to express how much this work has pleased me both for the peculiar Excellence of the design and for the Proofs which correspond to it The Doctrine is sound in all its parts and without the smallest shadow of a fault As for my self I cannot see what can be objected against it and if the Author would have the Book Printed at Rome I will give all the necessary Approbations without changing a single Word This Author who has a great deal of Wit has shown a great deal of Judgment too in this Treatise where laying aside disputes which ordinarily speaking do but encrease Dissentions it being rare to find any who will grant the Preheminence of Wit to their Companions he has found out another and more easie Method of treating with the Calvinists from which much better Fruit may be expected In effect as soon as they can be brought to lay aside that horrour which they have sucked in with their Milk against our Tenets they come more willingly towards us and discovering the insincerity of that Doctrine which they learn'd from their Masters the principal Maxim of which is That our Doctrines are horrid and incredible they apply themselves with more tranquillity of Mind to search into Catholic Verities This is what they must be carefully exhorted to sinee there is no better Method to make them renounce their Errors and your Eminence had great reason when you lately said That Catholic Truth will always be victorious in the Mind of every man of Sense who will only without prejudice consider it in comparison with Heresy I take the Liberty to write this long Discourse to your Eminence not being able to contain within my self the Pleasure which the reading of this Book you have been pleased to let me have has afforded me I beg your Eminence will continue the like Favours to me c. Rome 26 April 1672. A Letter from the Bishop and Prince of PADERBORNE at that time Coadjutor and now Bishop of Munster to the Author THE most Christian King when he entrusted to you the Instruction and Education of his Son born to so much Greatness did by his Judgment alone sufficiently recommend your Knowledg and your Merit to all the World and all Posterity yet you have given a new Lustre to your Reputation and to the Christian Doctrine by an immortal Monument of your Worth I would say by that most excellent Book whose Title is An Exposition of the Doctrine of the Catholic Church which has not only gained the vast applause of Catholics but forced the Heretics themselves to give deserved Praises to your Judgment and Erudition In this most admirable Treatise there appears a most incredible facility to unfold the most difficult the most sublime and most divine things and at the same time a most winning candor and a truly Christian Charity and Bounty capable to draw with sweetness all those who are set in Darkness and in the shadow of Death and to enlighten and conduct them into the way of Peace Insomuch that you seem to be chosen amongst the Bishops to reduce the Enemies of Catholic Faith under the easie Yoak of Truth To the end therefore the effects of this great work might be the more extended and might spread it self throughout all Germany and amongst other Nations I had formed to my self a design of having it put into Latin but after having read your Letter of the 24th of April I had a doubt whether I ought to proceed any further in it or quit my design because I perceived you were as perfect a Master of the Latin Tongue as of the French and that you writ it with so much Purity that if any other should undertake to translate your Works instead of adorning those curious Products of your Wit he might on the contrary discredit them You ought the rather therefore to be desired to put your self in Latin what you have published But seeing that perhaps you have not leisure and if you had it would be much better you should be employed in the Composition of more new Works than in the translation of those you have already Composed because you admit of it I will hasten him to whom I have committed it to finish what he has begun and will send you the Version of your own Book that you may review and correct it your self What remains for me is always infinitely to honour your Vertue and Learning and to make it my endeavour to cultivate that Friendship which my care of the Version and your Bounty have given so favourable a beginning to Continue still to love me most worthy Prelate who serve the Church so well and while you give the Dauphin so many excellent instructions contrive for me a place in the remembrance and affection of so great a Prince Give if you please my most humble Service to the Duke de Montausier In my Castle at the confluence of the Lippe the Padere and the Alise the 29th of May 1673 A Letter from the Reverend Father