that she pleases Methinks it is very unjust to wrangle with People and impose it for a Crime on them that they will not believe but God alone speaking in the Scriptures and by the Pen of his Prophets and Apostles With what Justice would they have us to regard as a small business that Enterprize to have taken away the Word of God in the Book thereof from the hands of the People Is not that a Capital Affair Where shall Knowledge be drawn if the Spring thereof be shut up Where shall Men learn to know God aright if they rob the People of that Book where God himself makes himself known When I see that they say with Confidence That it is not true that they have forbidden the Lecture of the Word of God that dismays me and drives my Patience to the utmost I know not how Men can contradict so a Publick Authority It is true that there are some in the Roman Church which condemn that Prohibition made to the People of Reading the Holy Scripture and I could wish no fairer Discourse thereon than what hath said the Author of the Dialogues between the two Parishioners of Saint Hilary du Mont. But what was said of those Persons They say they have borrowed the Weapons of Hereticks and have brightned them the more They accuse them to oppose the Sentiments of the Church because that the Church conducted by Gods Spirit permits not indifferently the Reading of Holy Scripture to all Persons without the Advice and Explication of Ecclesiastical Superiours for fear lest the Difficulty or Obscurity of Understanding in some places should produce Scruples and Errours in Mens Spirits It being certain that all Heresies which are born in its bosom have always their foundation and their defence in the Words of the Holy Scripture ill understood It is the Lord Bishop of Ambrun who speaks in his Ordinance against the Traduction of Mons. I think he knows what he saith for the least thing that may be granted to an Archbishop it is that he should know Religion And indeed doth not all the World know that the Rules which are at the Head of the Index Expurgatorius forbid the Lecture of the Holy Word of God excepting those who shall have permission from their Ordinary of the Curate or the Confessor It is not a Decree of the Council of Trent will they say No but it is the Spirit of the Council They are Theologians deputed by the Council of Trent that speak it It is Pope Pius the Fourth who presided in that Council and who possessed the Spirit thereof Sixtus the Fifth and Clement the Eighth Successours of Pius the Fourth ought to have had the Spirit of the Church Methinks it is they that say That by the Command and Use of the Holy Inquisition Romaine Universella the Power of permitting the reading or retaining the Bible in the Vulgar Tongue both of the Old and of the New Testament hath been taken away from Bishops Inquisitors or Superiours of the Regulars Let Men but read the last Writings which have been made thereabout upon the occasion of the Version of Mons the Ordinances of my Lords of Paris and of Ambrun the Writings of Father Annat and all the Apologies which have been made for the Defence of those Pieces and Men shall see whether it be true That the Reading of Scripture be permitted and ordained to all the World I must remit those that will be instructed in this Matter to the Book of Monsieur Mallet where Men shall see the Councils Popes Cordinals Bishops Faculties of Theology and the Theologues agreeing in this Article It is That the Reading of the Word of God is dangerous when it is permitted to all the World But is there need of Proofs for a thing that is seen Where is there a Reading of the Word of God in favour of the People Is it in the Church If they Read any part thereof it is in a strange Tongue it is no more for Instruction It is for Prayer as said a Franciscan in the Council of Trent Is it in Private Houses But in what Country doth the People know the Word of God of himself Certainly in Spain and in Italy the Bible is that of all Books that the People knows least of In France some honest Persons read it but their Number is very small It is not charged as a Duty upon any Person happily there are not of a Thousand One that hath cast his Eyes upon this Sacred Book Thence comes the profound Ignorance of most People even of those who distinguish themselves by their quality or by their Character We must not flatter our selves We shall never regard that Conduct as coming from the Spirit of God and we shall never re-enter into a Church which treats Holy Scripture with so much Injustice ARTICLE XV. Of the Church AS for the Authority of the Church it cannot be an Affair of little Importance seeing the Question is whether the Tribunal of it shall be lifted up above the Holy Scripture Monsieur de Condom cannot be ignorant that this Controversie of the Infallible Authority of the Church is an Article so Capital that thereon depends all the Re-union whereto they invite us Whilst that the Roman Church shall call it self Infallible she will shut the Door against all Reformation and as long as she shall refuse all Reformation she cannot hope that we shall return into her Bosom This Doctrine of Infallibility is the most dangerous that could ever enter into the Church because it opens the way to all sorts of Errours and Superstitions and takes away all liberty of Examining those things which Use or Authority have once established A Church that calls her self Infallible boldly establishes boldly what she wills and what may be found useful for its Interest And after that there is no more any Means to return We must also be permitted to say That this is an Affair of the highest Importance seeing the Foundation of the Faith of our People depends thereon They would not have us to establish it on the Holy Scripture which is the Stay and Pillar of Truth and they would have us to knowledge all that we must believe as from the Church without being able to tell us which is this Church and where are the Titles of its Infallibility These Gentlemen do thrust us very hardly upon the Authority of Scripture the diversity of its Senses upon the liberty whereof they accuse us as given to Women and to Artificers to interpret it after their manner and to make themselves a new Religion if it seems good to them But I know not how they mind not that with all their Maxims of Submission and blind Obedience for their Interpretations of the Church they must cast the Faith of their People into an incertitude greater a thousand times than that wherein they say that we are It is the Church say they to whose Interpretations we must cleave I will but let them
he see Altars and thereon a Sacrifice of the Body and Blood of a God-man who every day after some Mystical Ceremonies descends from Heaven and comes to place himself really under the Accidents of the Consecrated Bread and Wine He sees I say a Sacrifice of Human Flesh but invisible which is done with a great Shew and Attendance of Ceremonies for the Propitiation of the Sins of the Dead and for all the Necessities of the Living He sees an Object which appears to be meer Bread which he must be made to adore as his God his Redeemer and Master He sees Men that make their Prayers and that sing Sacred Hymns but he meets with the Veil of a Language strange and unknown which is diffused through all this Worship and doth conceal it quite from Vulgar Eyes By the favour of an Interpreter he penetrates through this Veil and under it he sees Prayers and Invocations addressed to Creatures whereto are given the magnificent Names of Mediators Mother of Mercifulness Queen of Heaven Refuge of Sinners Gate of Paradice c. from whom Men do request to be delivered from Maladies recovery of Health to be cured of the Languors of their Souls to be loosed from the Bonds of their Sins to receive increase of Virtues to be delivered from Hell and to be put into the possession of the Glory of Heaven by their Merits and by their Intercession He sees a Religion abounding in Ceremonies whereof the Ministers are cloath'd with Habits extraordinary and mystical He sees their Crosses Holy Water and a great external Shew altogether pompous and compounded with an incredible Number of different Parts Piercing yet further he sees Men set upon their Tribunals at the feet whereof they shew him other Men on their Knees confessing their Sins to them and expect Remission from them and he hears those Spiritual Judges on those Tribunals who impose on Sinners Penitences Fastings Pilgrimages Hair-Cloth Cilices rough Shifts to satisfie thereby God and the Church who preach to them That all the Sins committed before Baptism are expiated solely and entirely by the Blood of Jesus Christ but that every Man must satisfie for his Sins committed after Baptism That tell them That Men must labour to merit Eternal life by good Works That teach them That the good Works wherein God takes pleasure are among other Devotions for the Saints Pilgrimages Vows tedious Tautologies of certain Prayers observed in the Honour of some of those Saints and of their Images Who give them to observe a long List of Ecclesiastical Laws about Fasts distinctions of Meats Corporal Mortifications That declare to them That the Non-observance of those Laws of the Church will damn them as much as the violation of Gods Commands Which tell them also That after this life they cannot hope to enter immediately into Heaven but that they must pass through a place of Torment where they shall be examined happily for many Ages by a cruel Fire until they have intirely satisfied for those Sins for which they could not make Satisfaction during this life He sees Priests upon those Tribunals to give with a Tone of Authority and of Power the Remission of Sins to those Penitents and to tell them I absolve you They hear them say That Men must receive their Orders and those of the Church as so many Sentences from Heaven That this Church is infallible and exempt from Errour that She is Judge without Appeal of all Debates That the Holy Scripture in regard of us holds her Authority but only from Her that we could not know the Divinity of the Word of God but only by the Testimony of the Church that She is the Interpreter of her Sense and that the Interpretations which she gives though they seem contrary to Sense to Reason and even to some places of this very Scripture ought to be received with a Soveraign Submission Above those Men which are only called Priests he sees several Dignities but above all he sees a great Monarch Spiritual and Temporal who calls himself Jesus Christs Lieutenant the Vible Head of the Church the Mouth of God who pronounces Oracles and who can never Erre who is above Emperours and Kings who can establish them and who can destroy them Behold what our Infidel may see in the Roman Church Neither he nor I do pronounce any thing we say not whether it be good or bad Going out from thence he enters into the Temples of the Protestants wherein he sees nothing of what he had seen in that place whence he came forth He sees there no Images no Altars no Sacrifices no Pomp no Ceremony They tell him for a reason of this difference God is jealous of his Honour he would not have any Service done to Images he hath expresly forbidden it in the Second Command of his Law The Sacrifices of Christians are Praises and Thanksgivings Works of Mercy Offerings and Alms these are the Oblation of the Heart and Affections and their Perfumes are their Prayers We have no Altars for since that Jesus Christ did Sacrifice his Sacred Person for our Salvation having no more Sacrifices we need no more Altars Our Infidel lending his Ear to what is said hears indeed nothing but Prayers and Hymns which are Sung Sermons Prayers addressed to God no Angels no Saints invoak'd They tell him Prayer is the Principal of our Homages and the first act of our Adoration therefore we reserve it for God We believe that we should offer a great Wrong to the Divinity if we did divide his Honour between Him and his Creatures They shew to this Infidel a small number of Sacraments administred with great simplicity Nothing is disguised from him They tell him What you see on this Table is true Bread and true Wine but it 's Bread and Wine mystical It is the Sacrament of Jesus Christ crucified it is the Symbol of his Flesh and Blood and the precious Pledge of the Love of God the Seal of our Justification and One of the Means of our Sanctification But the Grace which is adjoyned doth not destroy Nature Instead of causing him to adore what his Senses tell him to be Bread They tell him Take heed lest under any Pretence whatever you render to the Creature that Honour which is due only to the Creator for he that said Thou shalt worship the Lord thy God and him alone shalt thou serve will not be paid with any Excuses it will not avail to say I supposed that my Saviour came under that appearance of Bread Our Infidel sees a Religion which keeps nothing secret from him under pretence of Mystery They do not tell him about the Word of God Walk therein as in a dangerous Way either read not at all or read with a Spirit of Submission for all that the Church hath taught you Do not believe what your Eyes will seem to tell you about your Lectures and whatsoever you may meet withal conclude nothing that may be opposite to the Faith
shew me that Church to whom I must submit I see in the Orient a Greek Church which they call Schismatick in the Occident I see there Societies of Men whom they call Eutychians Jacobites Nestorians Melchites and many others Each one of these Societies tells me that she is the true Church whom I must hear Which shall I believe Believe her say they that hath the Marks of Antiquity of Succession of Chairs and particularly of the Apostolick Chair But every one of those Societies doth boast to have all those Advantages to be the most Ancient to be Apostolical to have had the Apostles for Founders The Church of Alexandria saith that she was founded by St. Mark her first Bishop that of Jerusalem by St. James These are Matters of Fact and to clear my self thereof I must read whole Libraries I that neither have Latin nor Greek which have neither time enough nor piercing Wits to follow hard Studies Either I must remain uncertain or else I shall be reduced to believe that the Roman Church is the true Church upon her own simple Word and upon the Witness that she gives her self which is of all things in the World the most unjust for no Man ought to be believed in his own Cause Yea though I should believe that the Roman Church is the true Church and Infallible If I ask where that Infallible doth rest they cannot teach it me The one will say that it is in the Pope others will say that it is false and I must beware of that thought Some Doctours will tell me that the Infallible Oracle is not found but in Councils but others will call that Opinion Heresie and will Threaten the Tribunal of the Inquisition if I yield unto those Thoughts I know not then what side to turn to to find a solid Prop to my Faith for on all hands I see nothing but Doubts in that which they call the Church uncertainty and dividing of Opinions If I pierce into the bottom of that Church and that I examine the Sense thereof I see People that say with one Voice We must follow the Church One cannot go off from her without wandring But under that appearance of Uniformity I see a prodigious diversity of Opinions Some are Semi-Pelagians and teach That Grace is not efficacious but by the Will of Man others defend Efficacious Grace by it self and accuse the former of recalling Pelagianism Some say That the Command of Loving God obliges at all times and the others say that it never obliges I see some that accuse others to be the Corrupters of Morality and which indeed make the Truth of their Accusation palpable by ones Finger but they who are accused do by turns accuse their Adversaries to be Calvinists Hereticks to ruine the Virtues of Sacraments to estrange the Faithful from the Communion of the Body of Christ and to bind Conscience by unjust Chains All those People are in the Church they follow all the Sentiments of the Church as they say yet are they in Paths so opposite that Hell and Heaven are not more See the Uniformity of that Church whereto they would have me to give up my self It must be a concluded Affair We shall never resolve to leave the Foundation of the Word of God who always abides the same to engage our Selves in a Sea of Doubts and Uncertainties where we cannot set our Foot nor find a fixed Bottom That the important Controversie of Authority Infallible of the Church be not an Obstacle to our Re-union Monsieur de Condom would perswade us by all means that we are in that regard in the same Practise and in the same Opinion with his Church In that we make our Church Judge Soveraign and Infallible of the Controversies which arise among us He proves it by two things First Because we condemn the Doctrine of the Independants which say That every Faithful Man is to follow the Motions of his own Conscience and that each Flock is to be governed by their proper Laws without dependance of any other in Matters Ecclesiastical Whereto we oppose That if that Doctrine had place there might be formed as many Religions as Parishes and we conclude That the Faithful ought to be Dependants in regard of their Faith that is they must depend upon a Superiour Authority which is that of the Church I conceive not what difficulty Monsieur de Condom finds therein Have we ever said That the Faithful ought to be absolutely Independant of the Church Do we deny the Authority of the Church to be great holy venerable Do we consider the Decisions of holy Councils Assembled in God's Name and who have decreed according to his Word as Nothing There is much difference between a Great Authority and an Infallible Authority between a blind and absolute Dependance and a Dependance conditional The Authority of the Church is great but it is not Infallible Councils ought not to be despised but their Decisions are not to be received blindfold The Faithful are to live in Dependance but they must examine by the Word of God those Decisions whereon they are to depend Not to make a New Religion if they think good but to submit to Decisions by a Principle of Reason lightned with Divine Faith and grounded on the Word of God But they will say If those Private Men in their Examen Judge that the Decision of the Church be not true what must they do Ought they to submit or no If they submit against the Judgment of their Reason that is it we ask If they submit not and that they follow their Thoughts there is a new Religion I Answer If those Private Men Judge that the Decision of a Council be false they cannot but follow the Judgmenr of their Heart although all the Popes and Bishops should oppose it but if they be wise they will not stick to their first Examination they will labour to have their Doubts clear'd If they cannot they will keep silence in case the Errour in hand be not Capital If they believe that their Salvation is concerned then their Consciences obliges them not to make a New Religion but to chuse that which they believe most conformed to the Truth of the Gospel I will not engage further into a Question which hath a long Train One may read thereon those who have Written to justifie our Separation and among others the excellent Answer of Monsieur Claude in his Book of Prejudices there may all see what are the Rights of Private Men and of Flocks when the Church begins to wander The other Proof which Monsieur de Condom brings to prove That we give â—â— our Synods an Infallible Authority is drawn from our Discipline That Discipline would have that when a Point of Doctrine is in Controversie after that the business hath passed the Judgment of the Consistory of the Colloques and of Synods Provincial In fine They should acquiesce in the Judgment of the Synod National The same Discipline Ordains
That in the Letters of Mission whereof the Churches do charge the Deputies which go to Synods there be a Clause of Submission in these Terms We promise before God to submit to all that shall be concluded and resolved in your holy Assembly being perswaded that God will preside by his Spirit c. To that Monsieur de Condom adds a Fact drawn from the Synod of Saint Foy Anno 1578. where some Overtures were made of Reconciliation with the Lutherans and deputed Four Men to whom was given an Absolute Power to terminate that Affair as should seem good to them Behold say they where ends the false delicateness of these Gentlemen They will not receive the Decisions of Councils they make no difficulty to put their Faith into the hands of Four Men who would be weary to be obliged to answer so many things that come to nothing What doth all that I pray you Doth that prove that we hold the Church for an Infallible Judge All that Monsieur de Condom says returns to this Reasoning or it returns to nothing Those who give their Synods power to judge Soveraignly of Points of Faith who promise Submission in the assurance that the Holy Ghost presides there and who retrench from the Communion of the Church those that would not submit to their Decision give to these Synods an Infallible Authority but the Calvinists do that therefore they give to to their Synods an Infallible Authority This Argument supposes false and concludes ill 1. It supposes false for it is not true that we promit our Synods a blind Submission What is said to them That we are perswaded that God will preside in the midst of them by his Spirit is a Clause of Civility whereof the Terms are not to be abused That signifies nothing but that we wish and hope that the Holy Ghost will direct them It is not true neither that the Synod of Sainte Foy have put the Faith of the Protestant Churches of France in deposito into the hands of Four Men for what was committed to them was not to make new Articles of Faith but only to compose a Formulary in general Terms which all the World might receive And they did not so far refer themselves wholly to their Judgment but that they reserved liberty not to follow them if they should chance to make some false Advance 2. This Argument concludes ill for from what Power we give to our Synods to Judge of the Points of Doctrine and do cut off those that will not submit to their Judgment Monsieur de Condom concludes that we attribute to them an Infallible Authority This Reasoning is worth nothing or this is good The Bishops and Archbishops do give Ordinances Councils Provincial and National in the Roman Church decide Points of Faith and cut off those that will not submit therefore they believe themselves Infallible I do not therefore think that the Bishops neither separately nor in their whole Body out of a General Council esteem themselves Infallible Must then the Priviledge of Infallibility be had to have the Power to Judge of a Point of Faith There would then be none but the Pope or the Council that could Judge thereof There must be an Order Every Society is in right of Judging of Controversies which arise in its bosom and that Member thereof that will not submit to that Judgment may be cast out of the Body Therefore we do properly complain That the Roman Church having pronounc'd against us in the Council of Trent after that did cast us out of their Body They used in that the right which appertains to every Society but we complain that they have unjustly condemned us The Question touching the Rights and Authorities of Councils and Synods deserves an Examen much more ample we will leave it as an Incident which Monsieur de Condom hath brought into his Book without necessity and only to entangle the state of the Question It imports nothing at the bottom what Authority Synods may have to know whether the Roman Religion is far distant from the Protestant which is properly the Affair here in agitation ARTICLE XVI Of the POPE and of his Authority I Follow the Order of Monsieur de Condom I finish by the Head of that great Body into which they would have us re-enter that is the Pope Here also after him a Point whereof we have made a stumbling Block without any reason What is the Pope It is the Principle of Unity the Cement of Union It 's a Head whereto all the Members have a relation and who makes the Uniting of the Church for Men know there is no Goverment more solid and that contributes more to the Conservation of States than the Monarchical What hurt then can there be to set upon the Body of the Church a Spiritual Monarch a Visible Head that may watch for its Conservation and may govern it Must not People be very Captious to make of that a cause of Separation I will regard well this Article at first under the same face that Monsicur of Condom doth The Pope is a Visible Head a Spiritual Monarch but who hath appointed this Monarch Is it possible that Men do not feel that this puts a prodigious difference between the Religion of Protestants and the Roman Religion To make it appear I suppose that the Lord Jesus Christ would have the Government of his Church should be Aristocratical and that he hath put it into the hands of such whom he hath called Bishops and Priests whom he hath invested with equal Power I know well that this Principle is contested but once more I am not oblig'd to prove any thing in this Work I am permitted to suppose my Principles and in supposing them I must shew how they are incompatible with those of that Church whereunto they would have us return If then the Lord Jesus Christ hath setled a Government Aristocratick in his Church this kind of Government is of Divine Right and if it be of Divine Right none must be permitted to change it under whatsoever pretence The kind of Government is so much of the Essence of a State That the State changes absolutely loses its Name and its Form when the Government is changed All the World knows that a Kingdom which by a general Revolt shakes off the Yoke of its legal Master and then a Popular Government a Republick which by the violence of an Usurper becomes a Monarchy are no more what they were before and they would that without ruining the Church they may make a Monarchy thereof against the intention and design of Jesus Christ We do not understand that Suppose we also that this Soveraign Power exercised at Rome be an Usurped Power It is the Principle of Protestants Selon ce Principe is it possible that they would oblige us to submit to an Usurped Power If a Tyrant or Rebel had taken the place of the Legal Prince were it not extream baseness and a Crime of
A PRESERVATIVE Against the CHANGE OF RELIGION OR A Just and true Idea of the Roman Catholick Religion opposed to the Flattering Portraictures made thereof and particularly to that of my Lord of Condom Translated out of the French Original by CLAUDIUS GILBERT Batchelor of Divinity and Minister of Belfast LONDON Printed by S. Roycroft for Thomas Cockerill at the Three Legs in the Poultrey 1683. TO THE Worshipful Soveraign AND THE BURGESSES OF THE Borough of Belfast AND To the Inhabitants thereof Christian Friends THis Learned Piece was lately brought to my Hand by a Signal Providence in its Native French Dress By the renewed perusal thereof I found it to be very Substantial and Seasonable which made me willing to render it more useful by Publishing it in our Vulgar Habit. It hath been found to be of singular Service in its Native Country and may be so among us likewise through God's Blessing Whilst so many Thousand of our Neighbours Houses are daily Fired it 's time for All to awake The multiplied Persecutions of the Protestants in France so causelesly renewed of late should rowze up all Christians round about them In such Infectious Times a Choice ANTIDOTE should be valued and desired of All. Many Reasons might oblige me to recommend this Present to your View and Improvement The choice Ingredients thereof were very Skilfully Composed and Faithfully Dispensed by the Learned Author thereof My Zealous Affections for all Your Prosperous Welfare chiefly in Spirituals and for the Common Interest of all Christians have perswaded Me to this Publication which I desire cordially to commend to the Blessing of the Most High as becomes the Function and Relation of Your Faithfully Devoted in the Lord Jesus for the best Service CLAVDIVS GILBERT Belfast July 3. 1682. THE CONTENTS OF THE ARTICLES Contained in this BOOK ARTICLE I. GEneral Reflexions upon my Lord of Condom's Book pag. 19 Article II. A General Idea of both Religions p. 36 Article III. That we agree not about Fundamental Points p. 45 Article IV. That the Worship forbidden of God cannot terminate in him p. 53 Article V. Of the Invocation of the Saints p. 56 Article VI. Of Images and Relicks p. 78 Article VII Of Justification and Merit of Works p. 87 Article VIII Of Satisfactions Indulgences and Purgatory p. 101 Article IX Of Sacraments in General p. 115 Article X. Of the Eucharist of Real Presence and of Transubstantiation p. 120 Article XI Of the Adoration of the Host p. 137 Article XII Of the Sacrifice of the Mass p. 152 Article XIII Of the Retranchment of the Cup p. 165 Article XIV Of Holy Scripture p. 176 Article XV. Of the Church p. 182 Article XVI Of the Pope and of his Authority p. 189 Article XVII Of the Points which Monsieur de Condom hath forgotten Of the Worship in an Vnknown Tongue Of the Multitude of Ceremonies Of Masses without Communicants Of forced Celibat p. 198 A PRESERVATIVE Against the Change of Religion OR A just and true Idea of the Catholick Roman Religion opposed to the flattering Portraicture which is made thereof and particularly to that of my Lord of Condom NEver were greater Efforts in France to effect what they call Conversions and never was the Truth attack'd by so many Means nor fought with so much Success We see nothing else every where but Scandalous falls therefore they that lay to heart their Salvation ought to be furnished beforehand against the Contagion of this ill Air that reigns at this day It 's time to awake when the house is burning and one may say that if the Zeal of our Reformed in France be not kindled anew they are next to the seeing the ruine of their whole Party The Book of my Lord of Condom is one of the Means which is used with most Success to delude those Spirits that are Wavering and whereof the Piety is ill fixed These Gentlemen have so high an Opinion of that Work and of what it can do that many Bishops cause it to be printed at their own Cost and to be distributed within their Diocess to all considerable Protestants there The Temptation is powerful and the Method which my Lord of Condom hath used is dextrous his Artifices are fine and delicate and it is certain that this Book is able to Corrupt the hearts of those that are inclin'd towards the World and who are seeking out some Pretences to quit a Religion so cruelly attack'd It is then needful that all the World should be taught that every one should keep his Guard well against such a Temptation And as the Roman Church labours to spread my Lord of Condom's Book through all Europe by causing it to be turn'd into all Languages we must also disperse through them all the Answers opposed thereto And when the Publick shall have found one best liked every Particular Person should furnish himself with a Copy thereof that may be still at hand and still read over to be continually upheld against such a Temptation as is never at an end but is uncessantly still renewing Ever since that Loss which the Roman Church had in the beginning of the last Age of so many Millions of Souls which did then separate from her Communion no Endeavours have been omitted to repair that Breach and no Means but have been employ'd to bring back into her Bosom such as have gone away from it We must needs bear them this Witness that never so much Ardor and Zeal was seen in any Enterprize never was a more serious and important Affair undertaken than this design they have laid to hinder the duration and progress of That which they call Schism and Heresie It is indeed a design which cannot be blamed If these Gentlemen are well perswaded that the Religion which we have abandon'd is the only One that may conduct unto Salvation We may not wonder if they labour to bring us back thereto provided that they endeavour it in a good way honestly and by a Principle of Charity and true Zeal But as it often happens that in such a case Men prove the Cullies of their own hearts and that Self-love the Interest of the Flesh and that of the World do delude them all should well examine themselves in that regard and not take it ill that they that are concern'd therein be willing to have their part in such an Examination We should not imagine that all that which is called Zeal for Religion and a design to convert Hereticks should necessarily flow from a good Principle On the contrary God for the Trial of the Faith of his Elect hath almost always permitted that false Religions have had more Zeal for the destruction of the True than the True Religion for the ruine of the Falser When Christian Religion became predominant She did not do that for the ruine of Paganism which had been done against her during the Reign of Pagan Emperours It 's true that true Zeal is always accompanied with Moderation and false
Zeal with Violence So that in the Eyes of Flesh the true faithful Ones do appear Luke-warm and the Euemies of Truth do pass for true Zealots When Human Passions do mingle themselves in those Sentiments of Hearts called Religion there is no Excess that they are not capable of In respect of other Objects in the midst of their greatest Transports they do reproach themselves secretly which stops their fury and steal away some part of their Impetuousness and chiefly when they are allay'd and consider in cold blood their Conduct past they do often accuse their own selves But contrarily here Passions do sollicite and animate themselves they make Merit of their Violence and believe that God and his Church are concern'd in their Justification because they imagine that they have labour'd for the Truth This is one of the Reasons why often Men believe that they see but little Zeal in the true Church while there is so much Fire in the Conduct of Them that endeavour her Ruine But we must needs grant that there is something more The Moderation of the Faithful doth not alway proceed from that Sweet Spirit which is the very Genius of the Gospel It comes often from the coldness of their Zeal God permits it to oblige us to adore in Silence the Mysteries of his Conduct and to confound at the same time the Pride of Mans heart We have much less Love for the Truth than the World and the Devil have of Hatred against it And whilst we act in the Establishment of Religion by a Principle of Self-love we have quite another kind of Ardor than when we have no other prospect than that of the Glory of God The Church doth easily relent the fervour of the Zeal which seeks the Conversion of Others doth not last long It is so hard a thing to seek for Salvation that Men imagine they do enough to labour for their own without charging themselves with the Care of Others And we easily fall into those unhappy Thoughts That God is good enough to do his own Business that he will have a care of his own Interest and that he will not want Means to Convert them whom he hath destined to eternal Salvation Whereas false Zeal doth hold it self up doth persevere and finds it self often more capable to endure greater Labours than the true Devotion It is a thing that confounds us I grant it 's one of the great Temptations which good Souls are to overcome But truly it 's a Thing whereof it 's impossible to deny the Truth if we have any thing of good Faith or Probity Our Lord Jesus Christ himself doth teach us that the Pharisees and the false Doctors of Judaism did compass Sea and Land to make a Proselyte and all their labours did conclude to render Him a Son of Hell likes themselves All those things do make me conclude That the Zeal to make Conversions is not always a certain Sign that the Truth is in that Party It is a favourable Prejudice but after all it 's but a Prejudice and we should not suffer our selves to be conducted by those kinds of Lights which are often deceitful We must be permitted to examine If the Zeal of Religion which causes so many Emotions be a Divine fire or a Passion meerly Humane Now we cannot better know the Nature of that Zeal which seeks for Conversions than by the Means which it employs for it 's an indubitable Principle That true Piety never doth any ill that good may come thereof She seeks the Salvation of Men but she seeks it by ways that are just lawful and rational I. First It is certain that true Zeal doth never employ for Conversion the Sword Fire Violence and Torments Those are ill Commentators of the Words of the Lord Jesus Christ that make him to say Compel them to come in that is to say Constrain them by Violence and by the fear of Death to enter into the Church which is the Wedding Room The Lord cannot suffer in that Wedding Room any but such as are clad with the Wedding Garment and which have a true and solid Piety But those People which are brought into the Church by Fear and Threatnings are Hypocrites and Impious Persons which disrobe their Impiety to the sight of Men Rebels which feign their Submission meditate a Revolt and which always bear the heart of an Enemy The Church hath suffered many Persecutions but never did execute any upon others She overcame Paganism as Paganism had overcome her before but she never did retaliate it She did not use the Authority of Constantine and Theodosius to defile the Temples of the False gods with the Blood of their Worshippers as the Pagans had employ'd the Swords of Nero's Maximius Decius and Diocletian's to bathe the Earth with the Blood of Christians One must be very ignorant in the History of the Church not to know that in all the Contests She had with the Arrians Eutychians and other Hereticks She used only Exhortations Reasons Councils and other such like Arms. Contrarily the Hereticks have carried on their Fury against the living Temples of the Holy Ghost they have employed Sword and Fire and established themselves by the help of the Horrour and of the fear of Death which their Arms did cast into Mens Souls I know not if there be at this day in the Church of Rome any honest People that do not behold those horrid Tragedies which have shed so much Blood in the Ages past but as so many Accesses of Fury and a phrentick Fever during which Christianity arm'd against it self made it a pleasure and a duty to shed its own Blood and thrust the cruel Sword into its own Bowels If mens Souls be to be brought to Christ Jesus by Fear it must be by the fear of Hell and by the dread of Gods Judgments Knowing saith St. Paul the Terrour of the Lord we perswade men to the Faith 2 Cor. 5. II. Hope is also one of the Ways whereby the Souls of Men are more strongly drawn But to bring Men to Jesus Christ no other Hope is to be given them but that which the Lord himself gives them One must promise them exactly what he hath himself promised them that is Eternal life these are the Rewards of Heaven Whosoever shall forsake Father Mother Children Wife goods or house he shall receive an hundred fold in eternal life I find not that he hath presented any other Objects to Men to perswade them to come to him All the World agrees that nothing is more base than to betray the Truth and ones own Conscience for Interest Buy the Truth and sell it not saith the Wise man I speak not only of those Truths which are of the highest import and whereon depends Salvation I speak of Truth in general It 's one of the richest Presents of Heaven seeing it is to the Soul what Light is to the World and to renounce it for a base Interest it 's to despise
great Ones had busied their Head about All the World knows the several Advances that have been made thereto by some particular Persons They of the Protestant Party which have entred into this Proposition had concluded that it might be done either by way of Accommodation in obliging each of the Parties to yield some things or by way of mutual Toleration that is to say That without leaving their places they might consider one another with Charity and should not damn one another with full authority as is done These two Methods did not at all please the Roman Church that is not it which She demanded She could not take the first way which is that of Accommodation and of mutual Relaxation for according to her Principles being Infallible she could not relax any thing but she must relax some Truths which thing Honour and Religion permitted not The second Party did please her much less by that Way all things had remained in the state wherein they are both the Religions would haye joyned hands but would not have been confounded nor reunited The Protestant would have considered the Roman Catholick as his Brother serving one God in a manner somewhat different but yet would have continued Protestant I cannot blame those Gentlemen for despising that Proposition that cannot accord with Piety But I find it a surprizing thing that rejecting these two Ways of Reunion they have proposed us another which is much more strange For to reunite say they we must necessarily return to make up One and the same Body to have the same Assemblies participate of the same Sacraments and live under the same Pastours But towards that it 's not necessary to change any thing in the Religion and Worship of the Catholicks We must only make the Protestants comprehend that they were to blame to regard the Dogma 's and the Worship of the Church in that sort wherewith they have regarded it hitherto We must perswade them that those great Spaces that divide the Catholick from the Protestant are the only effects of mistaken Imagination that at the Bottom we are all near one another that there are only some Mistakes that we teach not what they believe us to teach that our Worship which seems so opposite in the Service of one only God is nothing of what it appears to be that those Appearances though they seem to be so cross one to another are nevertheless at the bottom the most innocent in the World And that being done those Gentlemen must reunite in returning to the Church there is nothing more facile This is a strange manner of Reuniting When two opposite Parties are reunited Composition is made each one yields of its Rights Here they would have Us to give all and they would grant us nothing Not that We had been capable of suffering our selves to be tempted by Propositions of Accommodation and of mutual Relaxation The Roman Church on her Principles will never make such Propositions with sincere purpose And though she should make them in earnest she would find them impossible in their Execution The Gallican Church hath no right to treat for the Roman Church nor to relax for her while she remains tied to the Chief of that Roman Church That which We would ask in that Treaty is that which will never be granted Us for we must not dissemble we would not have a Demy-Reformation we would have them renounce that which they consider as Essential and Capital It 's true that the manner of Reunion which those Gentlemen have imagined is of all the most commodious thing for their Church but we look on it as the worst of all Evil for Ours After all the Advertisements of my Lord of Condom I would fain know what is more safe now for Us in the Roman Church than what was when we first did come away from her Do not all things persevere therein in the same State Do we see there the Temples filled with Images and Men prostrating themselves before them their Vaults resounding with the Invocation of Creatures Adorations rendred to that which we know not to be God Is it then enough to say to us That we did not understand our selves You have thought we should say that and we would say quite another thing Understand us well and come in again and you shall see that at the Bottom we are not far distanc'd one from the other Surely we must be very weak and very base to fall into that Snare to renounce that Grace which hath cost us so much Blood to forsake the Faith of our Ancestors which they have established with so much labour so much sweat and watching and whereto we have hitherto sacrificed our Repose our Fortune and all our Worldly Interests Either we had no reason to come out forth from the Roman Church or there is no reason to invite us to return thither without having brought in any change into the same To change Expressions and the manner of speaking of Things is to change nothing at the Bottom Let them call the Service of Images Invocation of Saints the Worship of Reliques with what Name they will it s still the same thing Let them put new Colours to the Adoration of the Eucharist it will still be the Adoration of that which we do call a Simple Creature So that we must needs come to the Bottom thereof to know whether we have reason I cannot forbear to add another Reflexion to that former The Sweetnings of these Gentlemen do tend to make us see that we deceive our selves when we were perswaded that we were far distanc'd one from another and that our Debates are grounded upon our misunderstanding that we agree in the Foundations and that the rest are but few small things It 's upon this Supposition that they exhort us to leave our Party to return to Theirs But upon what Right do they make this Proposition to us I will suppose that what they insinuate be true that there be but a little Space between them and us Might we not then say to them Well Sirs Come to us traverse those little Spaces there is no further distance from You to Us than from Us to You. It cannot be more difficult for you to pass this Way than for us Why must we our selves pass all the Advances Methinks I hear them cry out thereupon and say What Insolence Have we not the Possession We are the Church You are gone out from the midst of us It 's your part to return You are the Innovators You are but a handful of People who have the boldness to oppose your selves to Millions of Men and you would have those Millions of Men to come to you Is it not more just you should go to them There was no farther distance from the Donatists to the Catholicks than from the Catholicks to the Donatists But suppose that the Heat which animated both Parties had been quenched that they cleared themselves that they had acknowledged that the
there is no reason to say That Men must adore Images that there is no reason to fasten any virtue thereto to imagine that an Image of our Lady doth more Miracles than another that its blame worthy to carry them about in pomp to prostrate ones self before them to place them on Altars to make Vows and Pilgrimages to them and to buâ—n Incense to them as formerly they did to the false Gods If Invocation of Saints be done in the same Spirit as the Prayers which we present to the Faithful alive to pray for us It 's to accuse all those who do Invocate the Saints in another Spirit After all that I demand of those Gentlemen Why they do seek for an Extraordinary Turn That which they had used hitherto either was good reasonable and proper to give just Idea's of the Doctrine of the Roman Church or it was not so If it was not reason it is they should take another But how can it be that for so many years they have defended the Roman Church by so many Works without finding the proper Turn to give a just Idea of her Doctrine It 's a blindness of the preceding Doctors hardly to be conceived It 's a good hap for my Lord of Condom to have first found out the true sense of the Doctrine of the Church whereof one cannot suspect the cause But if the Turn which my Lord of Condom hath found out is different in that thing it self that it's different from others doth it not condemn them If that which he saith to us be the only true Sense of the Church all other Senses which Doctors have given it are false Senses and consequently he condemns all those that have not spoken like him Without doubt my Lord of Condom will say It was not his design to say any thing new that his Explications of the Doctrine of the Church are the Sense of the Canons of the Councils and of the decisions of the Doctors But if he pretended not to say any thing Extraordinary whence then comes the great Noise which those Gentlemen have made of that Work Can they look for so great Honour from a Thing that should have been said by all other Authors Whence is it that they have begg'd Approbations from all parts of the World That they put amongst those Approbators Cardinals Bishops yea the Pope himself For a thing which all the World had said should there be need of so mony Props seeing it could not be combated nor question'd Why doth my Lord of Condom at the end of his Work shew that he would not have us examine the different Means which the Catholick Theologues have used to establish or to cleaâ— up the Doctrine of the Council of Trent If he be agreed with the Doctors of his fide hath he cause to fear lest we should compare his Senses with theirs And is it not clear that he confesses thereby that he stands in great opposition to them If my Lord of Condom hath brought to light but the true and ancient Sense of the Church why doth he say at the end of his Book that he hath ruined all Disputes for that is it which these words signifie For to s y on this Treatise something solid c. they must shew that this Explication leaves all Disputes in their intire state He pretends then that his Explication must make all Disputes to cease I do not believe that he pretends thereto by the force of the Reasons whereby he hath upheld his cause For a little Book that only explains and which doth not prove cannot cause Disputes to cease by way of Discussion If it were true that the Sense which my Lord of Condom doth give is the Sense of the Roman Catholick Church that it should be received by both Parties and that it would not leave Disputes in their whole state it were true also that it would be some thing which the gravest Authors had not yet perceived For hitherto all the Divines of the Roman Catholick Church have verily believed that the Controversies about Images Invocation of Saints Indulgences Satisfactions were intire Disputes and most real The Council of Trent hath without doubt believed so for if their Sense had been that which my Lord of Condom gives and that it 's a Sense which leaves not Disputes whole why hath it pronounc'd Anathema's against the Lutherans and Zuinglians about things whereof it's decisions made all Disputes to vanish Let 's deal truly Did not the Council fulminate and condemn those People They did not then believe that the Sense of their Canons could easily be reconciled with the Doctrine of Zuinglius and of Luther Besides that I do not well conceive how my Lord of Condom can defend himself for having brought to light a Sense that was unknown to all that have Written and to the Prelates of the Council of Trent themselves Without doubt those Prelates pronounced Oracles without understanding them and more than an Age after an Interpreter is come who hath discovered that which the Holy Spirit had hitherto kept secret But it imports not whether my Lord of Condom be the first or only Man that hath understood the Council of Trent to the Exclusion of the Council it self he cannot hinder us from concluding That in establishing his Sense as the only good and as the Doctrine of his Church he condemns all others which the Doctors have given hitherto and therefore he acts for us and favours our Cause as much as it can be favoured Although the Explications of my Lord of Condom should terminate some different we should not be obliged to believe upon his Word that his Sense should be that of the Council of Trent It hath reproached to these Gentlemen that these Explications were against the Bull of Pius the Fourth which expresly forbids all Explications of that Council These be its own words To avoid the Confusions and Disorders that might arise if it were permitted to every One to bring to light their Commentaries and Interpretations upon the Decrees of the Council by Authority Apostolical we forbid all Persons Ecclesiastick or Laick of whatsoever Dignity Condition Honour or Power whatsoever and all Prelates under pain of being Interdicted the Entrance of the Church and others under pain of Excommunication to undertake without our Authority Commentaries Glosses Annotations Observations or any other kind of Interpretations under whatsoever Name neither under the very pretence of maintaining the Decrees better or Executing or any other Colour And if any find there is any thing obscure less clear needing Interpretation we Ordain he should ascend to the place which the Lord hath chosen that is to the Apostolick Seat which is the Master of all the Faithful and whereof the Holy Council it self hath acknowledged the Authority in a manner so full of respect After that should it be permitted to any private Man to give to the Council a Sense unknown to the whole Earth unknown even to the
the preceding But in truth one cannot resolve to say over always the same things I will only say That one must not treat of it as of a small business nor imagine it to be no obstacle to Reunion The Worship of Images is a Practise of all most opposite to the Spirit of Christianism and the most contrary to the dignity of Man It 's to do great wrong to a Man to oblige him to humble himself before Wood and Stone which are so far below him Men should not flatter themselves It 's the great Scandal of the Jew he hath Images in abhorrence and when he looks on Christian Religion on that side he conceives a mortal aversion from it So we cannot imagine that to be a small Affair an Article which retards that great Work of the Conversion of the Jews without which the Church will never be perfect But say they will Men never conceive that it 's a great Wrong to compare or confound us with Idolatrous Pagans It 's not true that we confound the Roman Church with the Pagans Pagans adored the Images of wicked Men and even the Idols of Demons the Roman Church serves the Images of Saints and of the Friends of God viz. Apostles Martyrs Confessors Those Gentlemen will nevertheless permit us to tell them That they put Pagans in places wherein they have not been so to put an infinite distance between those Pagans and themselves about the Service of Images and suppose that Pagans have ador'd their Images as gods We should have a little better Opinion of Men who resembled us so much for ordinary use of Reason They regarded their Images but as Pictures and Representations of their gods If I could here take the leisure I would prove it with the clearest Evidence possible My Lord of Condom justifies his Church about Images by these Words of the Council of Trent Which forbid to believe any Divinity or Vertue for which it should be rever'd have any Grace demanded thereof or fasten ones Confidence thereon I am surprized to see that after this Decree they suffer Prayers addressed to Images and that Men should say to the Cross O Cress more bright than all the Stars famous in the World amiable to all Men holier than all things which alone hast been worthy to bear the Talent of the World Sweet Wood that bearest the Nails and the Sweet Weights save this present Assembly that comes hither to celebrate thy Praises Every one knows the solemn Prayer made to the Cross on great Feasts particularly at Easter in Holy Week God save thee our only Hope in this time of the Passion augment the Righteousness of the Faithful and grant Pardon to the Guilty I know well what they say That these Prayers are referr'd to Jesus Christ Crucified It is not the Sense of Thomas Aquinas the Prince of the School for he maintains That the Worship of Latria ought to be deferr'd to the Cross and that Worship to be distinct from that which is rendred to Jesus Christ He proves it by the Hymn O Crux ave spes c. he concludes That the Cross whereon Christ Jesus hath been Crucified ought to be worship'd with Worship of Latria both because of the representation and that it hath touch'd the Members of Jesus Christ As for the Images of the Cross of whatever matter they be they must be adored with Latria only of the first sort viz. with a Relative Latria He seems to have reason for we cannot conceive how they can have Intention to speak to Jesus Christ speaking to his Cross seeing they expresly distinguish Christ from his Cross and that they say to it Arbor decora fulgida c. Thou art a fair and bright Tree adorn'd with the Kings Purple chosen cut of a precious Stock to touch his Holy Members I find that very good that the Council of Trent hath declared That there is no virtue at all within the Image but I cannot conceive how after that they have left in the Roman Pontifical Prayers which necessarily suppose that there is a Sanctifying virtue in the Images of the Cross For Example this which the Bishop utters in blessing a new Cross Take then this Cross in thy hands wherewith thou didst formerly embrace it and by the Sanctity of that sanctifie this as by that the World hath been purg'd of his Sins so the Souls of thy Servants that offer thee this Cross by its Merit may be preserv'd from all Sin After this Decree of the Council of Trent I know not why they tolerate the use of Agnus Dei whereto they attribute Virtue of preserving from the Crafts of the Devil and from the the Frauds of the Evil Spirits to keep from Shipwrack to put under shelter from all Adversity to preserve from the Pest from corrupt Air the Falling-sickness Storm Fires Peril in Childbirth and from all Iniquity I know not why they go in Pilgrimage to an Image of our Lady more than to another For in fine If Images have no other use than to recall the Memory of the Originals they are all alike If the Spirit of the Council of Trent was opposite to these Devotions why were they not retrench'd At the most will they say You cannot accuse the Church but of Negligence and Toleration but you cannot oppose to the Council of Trent any thing that may be of equal Authority I oppose thereto Books little less authorized than it as the Pontifical and Roman Ceremonial made by the Pope's Order approved and received by all the Roman Church review'd several times since the Council of Trent I oppose thereto the general and constant practise of all the Bishops even of the most moderate There is none of them that would bless a Cross in other Terms than those which are prescribed by the Pontifical I oppose thereto the practice of the whole Roman Church for if there be in France and elsewhere some honest persons who have purer Sentiments and which are disingaged from Popular Errours they make no Number in comparison of the People of Italy Spain Germany and France it self who are in this Practise My Lord of Condom about this matter goes farther than one could have believed He would fain perswade us that in the Roman Church they do not serve Images at all Our Intention is not so much to honour the Image as to honour the Apostle or Martyr in presence of the Image We use Images but to lift up our Spirit towards Heaven That is equivocal and they say That in Manuscript Copies of this Work which have ran through Mens hands long before it was printed my Lord of Condom spoke more strongly but having seen the Success of his Book and seeing himself upheld by so great Approbation he is return'd thither he goes freely through and makes the Author of the Advertisement say We serve not Images God forbid but we serve our selves of Images to raise us up to the Originals These
Theirs and to make Profession of the Real Presence We have offered only to them in remaining still separate from them as We are both by Assemblies and by some Ceremonies external little important to tolerate them to regard them as our Brethren to receive them when they will come to us without obliging them to an express abjuration of the Doctrines that separate us Behold what we have offered And it is demanded of us That abandoning our Assemblies our Ceremonies and our Doctrines and particularly that of the Real Presence we should re-unite that is to say that we re-enter without any more ado into the Roman Church to believe the Real Presence or at least to make Profession of believing it There is so great difference between tolerating an Errour and to make Profession of believing that Errour that the former may be an action of Charity and the second cannot be but an abominable Hypocrisie The one serves towards Salvation and by the other we evidently hazard our Salvation I can say with assurance that if we should re-enter into the Lutheran Church and that we should bring back our People to them to make their Profession of the Real Presence we should commit a Crime that God would never pardon us After that they would have Ministers to lead back their People into the Roman Church without Mystery to make their Profession of the Real Presence which is a thousand times more dangerous than what we tolerate in the Lutherans 2. We may further tolerate the Real Presence of the Lutherans without tolerating that of the Roman Church because there is a very great difference between the one and the other But before we pass further it is good to remark that what those Doctours say is not true That we regard that Real Presence of the Lutherans as a light Errour It is a great Evil and to cure our Brethren of it we would willingly have given half our own Blood And what we have offered to tolerate them it was principally in hope to bring them back by little and little from their wandring If then we say that their is no Venom in that Opinion we understand it of mortal Venom and a killing One. It is enough to confess some Venom in an Opinion to acknowledge therein some Absurdities which dishonour Reason and blast Christian Religion and we acknowledge it too much in the Real Presence of the Lutherans But it is true that we believe not that it destroys any foundation of Faith We regard it principally in that manner wherein it is expressed in their Confession which saith Touching the Lords Supper they teach that the Body and Blood of Jesus Christ are truly present and are distributed to them who eat at the Lords Supper and condemn those who say the contrary There is nothing in these general Words that we might not subscribe to As for the manner of this Presence they are reserved and define it not They say Jesus Christ is there but we know not how If there be any which do pass rashly further in setling what they call Ubiquity that is to say the Presence of Christ's Humanity in all places of the World that passes not among them for a Fundamental Point The Real Presence of the Lutherans doth not destroy the Bread for they confess that the Signs are of true Bread and true Wine and according to that they do not suppose that God offers perpetually an Illusion to our Senses to make us see and feel a Body where there is not a Body They do not destroy the Sacrament seeing they leave the Signs entire The Real Presence of the Lutherans hath not for Attendants the Adoration of the Eucharist and obliges not Men to adore a Creature It doth not induce a Sacrifice of the Body and Blood of the Lord Jesus Christ Among the Lutherans they have not retranched the Cup from the People In fine It is not accompanied with an infinite Number of Worships of Ceremonies and of Doctrines which be incompatible with the purity of the Faith In that Church they do not Worship Images they do not Invoke Saints they do not prostrate themselves before Relicks they serve God in a Known Tongue they acknowledge no Mediator but Jesus Christ no other Satisfaction but his Merit any other Indulgence but his Grace any other Soveraign Authority but his own and that of his Word In a word Let the Roman Church set her Real Presence in the same state as is that of the Lutherans and we will offer to them the same thing which we offer to these so they will not ask us any more that is to say that we will offer them a Toleration so that she will not demand us to re-enter into her Communion For yet once more We never offered to conjoyn with the Lutheran Church whilst they abide in the state wherein they are and we will never do it for any thing in the World 3. I must yet Advertize once more these Gentlemen that for to know the poyson of an Errour one must principally regard it in that which is diffused on practice both of the Worship and of Morality Then for to know how dangerous the Real Presence is we must not regard it in her self but in the Attendants given it that is Adoration the Sacrifice and the Retranchment of the Cup. There it is that the danger lies and that is it that the Lutherans have not No subtilty of the Ministers saith Monsieur de Condom shall ever be able to perswade Men of good Sense that bearing with the Reality which is the most important Point and the more difficult they ought not also to tolerate the rest How can the Ingenuity and Light of Monsieur of Condom permit him to say that What if they tolerate a Speculative Opinion which changes nothing in the Worship and in the Religion shall we be obliged to tolerate the Adoration of a Creature which is of all things most opposite to the Foundations of Faith If a Man be perswaded that God is in the Sun by a presence of Substance greater than that wherewith he is in the rest of the World it would be an absurd Opinion But I know not whether there be any Person that would damn a Man for that alone but if that Man would conclude from that Errour that Men ought to worship the Sun and should himself so worship it what Sentiment should we have of him As for me I would tolerate his Errour as a Visionary Thought but I would abhor him as an Idolater because of his Conclusion If then to perswade Men it may be sufficient to express things with a great Assurance I say there will never be any subtilty or disguise that may perswade Men of good Sense that Toleration for a Real Presence should induce to a Toleration for the Attendants which the Roman Church gives it They say to that That they are not Attendants given thereto but that they are Natural Attendants and that even the
a true Sacrament as to the Sign I Answer That it is a true Sacrament as to the Thing signified It is certain that to speak exactly he doth not take with his Mouth the Sacrament of Jesus Christ for this Sacrament is composed of Two parts and he receives but One But he receives Jesus Christ signified by the Sacrament and receives as much of Graces as they that Communicate of the Sacrament it self Why Because the Sacrament is entirely presented to him because he receives it in his desire and heart and because only an insuperable Impossibility hinders him from communicating of the Sign Suppose we that a Man is found which hath the same aversion for the Bread as for the Wine that never was it may be found but it is not impossible This Man will come to the Lords Table he will take with his hand the one and the other Sign he 'l bring them near to his Mouth but he will return them not being able to pass further What doth that Man Doth he take a true Sacrament Not at all he takes not the Sacrament he recelves the Spiritual things presented under the Sacrament that is Grace But to what purpose doth he come near the Table to receive nothing there For he might have received Grace without stirring from home He comes to make unto God a solemn Protestation that his Impotency is the only cause that hinders him from partaking of the Signs that he thirsts after his Grace that he desires to have part in the efficacy of the Sacrament and to shew to all the Faithful that he doth not deprive himself of those Sacred Signs out of contempt of Religion If those Doctours do not relish this Theology I beseech them to hear St Bernard that tells them It is not Privation of the Sacrament that damns but Contempt I conjure them to consult all the Theologues of their School and examine what they say of Baptism of Vow or the Vow of Baptism There is none but saith That he who desires sincerely and ardently to receive Baptism and dies without partaking of the Sign doth nevertheless receive the Efficacy and all the Virtue of Baptism ARTICLE XIV Of Holy Scripture WE have upon this Article very important Controversies with the Roman Church of the Perfection of Scripture of its Obscurity of its Authority also touching the Utility and Necessity of Reading the said Holy Scripture of the Soveraign Judge of Controversies and of Traditions Monsieur de Condom passes almost all these under Silence and wraps it up in few Words except the Question of its Authority which he Treats of a little more largely I have no design neither to make here large Common places upon these Controversies Volumes have been sufficiently written on both sides to compose great Libraries I will only say That all the dexterity of Monsieur de Condom will never make us to pass this for a thing of small importance We shall never relish that any should make it their Task to speak ill of Holy Scripture It is a wicked Character and a bad Prejudice for these Doctours Cause When Men speak ill of their Judge and that they seek for Means of Recusation against him it is a Proof that they do not believe him favourable to their Interest If the Roman Church believed the Scripture to be on their side they would not seek out so many Means to make her lose her Credit with the People It is a thing that could never be believed if we did not see it That Christians should busie themselves to prove that the Book which includes the Doctrine that saves them from Hell is an imperfect and mutilate Book gnawed by the Teeth of Time depraved and corrupted by the Jews and by the Hereticks that it contains but a little part of the Doctrine of the Church that they must add thereto the Help of Traditions That it is an an Obscure Book that Men cannot understand it without the help of the Church that God hath filled it with Rocks and Shelfs that proud Spirits might be wracked thereon That it is a Leaden Rule which Men turn what way they please that Hereticks may easily abuse it to fight against the Truth that we find not Light enough therein to dissipate the Darkness of Errour that it is a Labyrinth wherein Men are necessarily lost when they are not conducted that it hath no Authority in regard to us without the Testimony of the Church that it hath not Characters of Divinity sufficient to prove it self that it cannot explain it self by clear Places of what it saith in obscure Passages that without the Authority of the Church we should be no more obliged to believe it to be Divine than any other Book that the Lecture of this Book is dangerous that one must extreamly distinguish the Persons to whom the Reading thereof should be permitted that Versions in the Vulgar Tongue cannot appear without peril that the People should not have liberty of handling these Sacred Books They would have us to hear all these things patiently and that we should keep Silence thereat But that cannot be We should be the most base and the most ungrateful of all Men if we should abandon the Defence of a Book to which alone we are beholding next to God for our Eternal Salvation They will not fail to tell us that we are Calumniators and they speak not with that contempt of the Holy Scripture They will bring us the Testimonies of some particular Persons of the latter days which have spoken of it with grand Eloges and Praises And I could relate the Words of other particulars and would bring an hundred for one which speak thereof in the Terms which I expressed just now If Monsieur de Cedeau Bishop of Grass if the Gentlemen of Port-Royal have spoken of this Scripture with the Respect due thereto that hath not been regarded as their fair side and best Character And all the World knows the Violent Persecutions whereto some have been exposed because of that Monsieur de Condom may say what he pleases in favour of Tradition but we maintain That it is an opening of the Door to all the Corruptions of Doctrine and Worship There is none so strange and so opposite to the Spirit of Christianism that may not enter into the Church under this Name of Tradition Sad Experience teaches us enough thereof It is this Word that filled with Images the Temples of Christians to the great Scandal of those who are jealous of the Purity of Worship It is that which introduced into Religion the Service of Creatures Invocation of Saints the Worship of the Holy Virgin Pilgrimaget Adoration of Relicks and so many other such like things If the Roman Church were reduced to defend her self only by Scripture she should soon be driven to forsake the most part of her Worship and of her Devotions But where Scripture fails her Tradition is an obscure Spring entangled and Profound which furnishes with all