they have Written and to give an Account of their Character and Merit which the Author professeth to have been performed for the first Eight Ages in those Volumes which he hath already published intending to continue those which follow until the present And we are so much the more concerned to enter upon a narrow Enquiry into this Book having understood that many Persons do find these first Tomes full of considerable Faults That nothing in this Affair might pass without great Deliberation and a perfect Scrutiny we caused this Book to be read by four Doctors in Divinity of the Faculty of Paris who did read all those Tomes each apart by himself and then conferred a long time together about them of all which they have given us an exact Account in many Meetings We have also our self examined this Book with all possible Attention and have found that this Work is so far from being useful to the Church that it would be on the contrary very prejudicial if we should allow the Sale of it Moreover we desired to hear the Author's Defences that so we might know his Sentiments and present Disposition for which Cause we have granted him as favourable an Audience as was possible for several Meetings in the presence of the same Doctors And as we have found in him an entire Submission to all we should ordain having put into our Hands a Writing signed by himself which is annexed to these Presents in which of the Twelve Articles which we judged chiefly censurable in his Book he doth retract many Propositions advanced by him and testifies in general that he submits himself to our Judgment without any restriction or reservation And as this absolute Submission without which we could not think his Writings sufficient there being in his Book many Propositions censurable which he doth not touch in his Writing secures his Religion and obliges us to spare his Person so there remains nothing more to be done but to give Sentence against the Doctrine of his Book We could have wished that this Work might have deserved only a limited Censure and so would have been satisfied to have marked out of the Author such Changes as he should make for saving the rest of it without proceeding to a full Condemnation and to an entire Suppression of it But the Evil being almost spread through the whole Work we could not dispence with the Condemnation of this Book but are obliged to prohibit the Reading it to all Persons whom it hath pleased God to submit to our Conduct for preventing the Prejudice which it might otherwise do amongst People if such a stop were not put to it that the Church may receive no more Scandal nor Hereticks get any Occasion of drawing Advantage against the Catholicks For these Reasons after having implored the Grace of the Holy Ghost to beseech his Guidance of us we have Condemned and do Condemn the Book entituled A New Library of Ecclesiastick Authors c. by Monsieur Ellies Du Pin Doctor of the Faculty of Paris c. as containing many Propositions false rash scandalous offensive to pious Ears tending to weaken the Proofs of Tradition about the Authority of the Canonical Books and many other Articles of Faith Injurious to Oecumenical Councils to the Holy Apostolical See and to the Fathers of the Church Erroneous and leading to several Heresies We most strictly and under the Penalties prescribed by Law forbid the Reading of this Book to all our Diocesans of either Sex or the causing or advising it to be Read by any Person or having it in their Houses or any other where enjoyning them under the same Censures to return them to us as soon as possible So we command the Officers of our Ecclesiastical Court to see the Execution of our present Ordinance to cause it to be affixed upon the Church Doors of this City and its Suburbs and in every other place where it shall be needful and also to require if it be necessary the Authority of the Magistrates of whose Zeal and Piety we have had Proofs on other Occasions to stop by all due and reasonable Methods the Impression Sale and Vending hereof Given at Paris in our Archiepiscopal Palace the 16 th of April the Year One Thousand Six Hundred Ninty and Three Signed Francis Archbishop of Paris and a little lower by my Lord Wilbault Here followeth the Writing mentioned in this Ordinance signed by the Author of the New Library which he gave into the hands of my Lord the Archbishop Declaration of Monsieur Du Pin. THere being some Persons who after the Reading of my Books of the New Library of Ecclesiastick Authors have testified that they were offended at many places and those Complaints being carried to my Lord Archbishop of Paris who in Quality of proper Judge of Doctrine hath taken them into his Consideration and named some Doctors to search narrowly into this Work and make a Relation of the same to him I do my self acknowledge by a serious Reflection on their Observations that there has indeed dropt from me some Expressions which are hard obscure and that might give some Offence to the Reader some also which may not be true and which against my Design may be brought against the Truth for which I shall always have a Respect and which I do believe ought to be maintained in the Church This obligeth me seeing my Lord the Archbishop hath had the Goodness to discover the same to me in three different Assemblies in which I have not been less touched with his Goodness and Paternal Charity than instructed by his great and clear Light in the presence of the Doctors to whom he committed the Examination of my Book and with whom he himself did Examine it I say this obligeth me to give to what is obscure in that Work the Illustrations which he hath judged and which I may self have perceived necessary to mollify the Expressions which are too hard and to make an Authentick Declaration concerning those which may bear an Ill Sense that it may appear that my Sentiments are Orthodox and that I have transgressed only by inadvertency not sufficienly considering the Terms used nor the Consequences which might be drawn from them To keepthe same Order which my Lord the Archbishop himself observed when he required an Account of all these Places I. I do first acknowledge as I have always owned for Sacred and Canonical Books all those which are contained in the Canon of the Council of Trent Sess 4. in all their Parts I am persuaded that they were all written by the Inspiration of the Holy Ghost that it is not lawful in any wise to doubt of their Canonicalness after the Decision of the Church and tho' some were not received as Canonical at first by some particular Churches it is nevertheless true that they were owned in the first Ages of the Church for Books of Holy Scripture and quoted as such by many Fathers Therefore these indefinite Expressions in
THE CONDEMNATION OF Monsieur Du PIN HIS HISTORY OF Ecclesiastical Authors BY THE ARCHBISHOP of PARIS Together with his own RETRACTATION Translated out of French LONDON Printed for Charles Brome and William Keblewhite at the East-End of St. Paul's and at the Swan in St. Paul's Church-Yard 1696. ADVERTISEMENT TO offer any Account of the History of Ecclesiastical Writers by Monsieur Du Pin or to give a Character of it would be Labour to no purpose seeing it is so well known here by the accurate Translation of it which hath been Published Monsieur Du Pin's Performance in that Work as well as Undertaking did at first receive the Approbation of many Learned Roman Catholicks as they have still the general Applause amongst Protestants But the Esteem which the latter had of this Work tended to the Prejudice of the Author raising Jealousies in those of his own Communion as if he intended to betray the Church and to weaken the Foundation upon which it pretends to stand What chiefly recommended him to Protestants was his Ingenuity in declaring both his own Sentiments and the Sentiments of the Fathers But this very Thing displeased the Heads of his own Church where even Truth it self is not allowed to be spoken but when it may serve their Interest Nay the more Moderate charged him with Imprudence in delivering Truths very unseasonably for while they were extirpating the Opinions of Protestants as damnable Heresie it was no ways proper to Publish a Book which yields great Advantage to Protestants and which shews that their Sentiments are more agreeable to what the Primitive Church and Fathers held than the present Tenets and Practices of the Church of Rome These Prejudices and Objections were managed by some who did bear Monsieur Du Pin a Personal Grudge and by this means he was complained upon publickly and a publick Censure of his Person and Books was demanded which the Circumstances of the French King also required and made necessary that thereby he might soften the Pope dispose him to a Reconciliation and either engage him to side with France against the Confederate Princes or at least to abide Neutral For it was generally believed that that Confederacy did first spring from the Pope who suspected that the French King designed to throw off his Authority and who was highly displeased with him upon the account of those Propositions relating to the Papal Jurisdiction which the Assembly of the Clergy had Concerted and Published Anno 1682. Thus Policy and Interest required the Condemnation of Monsieur Du Pin's Works but some desired to save himself which could be done no other ways than by a Retractation which he long struggled with but at last was prevailed upon by the Example of the Gallican Church which it is said the Archbishop of Paris urged upon him very much saying that it was no shame for him a single Person to make a Retractation when a whole Church had done it to prevent the inconveniences which might otherwise follow The Translator of these Works of Monsieur Du Pin in his Preface to the Third Volume taketh notice of the Condemnation and Censure that were past upon them but also saith that he was not able to procure either a Copy of them or of Du Pin's Retractation which hath moved me to Publish them believing that they will be acceptable to the Curious and useful to those who have bought the Books themselves which are not to be the less esteemed because they are thus Condemned And notwithstanding the Author's Retractation it doth appear that the Protestants have Antiquity on their side for as the Retraction was not voluntary but forced from Du Pin so it doth not flatly contradict any material point in his Books but is merely to be considered as a Prudent and Political Defence to save himself from the Consequences of being judged guilty of what was esteemed Heresie Having said that Monsier Du Pin was prevailed upon to make his Retraction by the example of the French Church who considering the present Circumstances of their King did also Retract the above-mentioned Propositions of the Assembly 1682. which were so offensive to the Pope I Judge it will not be unacceptable to set down their Retraction which I suppose is not not very common and it is as followeth Ad pedes Sanctitatis Vestrae provoluti declaramus nos vehementer supra id quod dici potest ex corde dolore super rebus gestis in Comitiis praefatis quae Sanctitati vestrae ejusque Decessoribus valde displicuerunt ac proinde quod ibidem circa Ecclesiasticam ac pontificiam authoritatem sive in praejudicium Ecclesiarum quod à mente nostrâ prorsus alienum esse testamur deliberatum decretumque videri potest pro non decreto non deliberato habemus habendum esse declaramus The Pope was not pleased with the words circa and videri potest he judged them too soft and general and therefore would not accept of this submission of the Clergy of France untill they were changed into contra and fuit It is to be remembered that the Quotations in the following Retractation are marked according to the English Translation of Du Pin's Works The Remarks mentioned by Du Pin are Critical Observations upon his History which were never Translated nor yet his Answers to them and therefore the Quotations out of them are according to the Paris Edition of them An ORDINANCE of my Lord the Archbishop of PARIS containing the Condemnation of a BOOK having this Title A New Library of Ecclesiastical Authors c. By Monsieur ELLIES Du PIN Doctor in Divinity of the Faculty of Paris Printed by Andrew Pralard FRANCIS by the Grace of GOD and of the Holy Apostolick See Archbishop of Paris Duke and Peer of France Commander of the King's Orders Provisor of the House of Sorbonne and Superior of that of Navarre to all who shall see these present Letters Salvation and Blessing It being the Chief Duty of the Pastors of the Church to keep the Doctrine wherewith they are entrusted such as they have received from the Apostles whose Successors they are and not to suffer any Person to make any Change in it without due Censure and as Tradition is the Channel which should convey to us by an uninterrupted Course the Catholick Doctrines in all their Purity so there should be a singular Regard had to Books and Authors which pretend to represent the same entire deriving it from the Source and tracing it from Age to Age even to the present Times We have therefore judged that we ought to apply our selves carefully to the Examination of a Book printed some Years since in this City under the Title of a New Library of Ecclesiastick Authors c. of which there hath already appeared Five Tomes one after another divided into seven Volumes The design of this Work being to treat of all the Ecclesiastick Authors which have been since the first Establishment of the Church to Publish what
Liberty which I have taken to speak of some Holy Popes with very little respect and amongst others of Pope St. Cornelius whom I have too much accused of Weakness in the Defence of St. Cyprian of Pope St. Stephen whom I have taxed with excessive Passions Heat and Fierceness Tom. 1. p. 118 c. and of whom I said That it was very probable that he fell into the Error of Re-baptizing all Hereticks however they had been baptized of Pope Zosimus by saying That he had a design to enlarge his Authority for which cause it was that he entered upon the defence of Celestius of St. Innocent by observing that he was very jealous of the Greatness and Authority of the Church of Rome and very tenacious of his Rights and that he wrote tolerably well of St. Leo of whom I said Tom. 3. Part 2 p. 110. That he sought all occasions to shew his Authority and of what I may have said in some other places V. As to the fifth Article which concerns Heresy and Hereticks I may in some places have spoken of them tho' contrary to my intention in such a manner as does not seem to beget a due aversion to them and which doth not sufficiently preserve the Reader treating too gently those who furthered or supported them I wish I had not said of Eusebius That we cannot refuse him the Quality of a Saint without rashness after having asserted that he never approved the Term Consubstantial altho' he established a perfect equality betwixt the Father and the Son I did only translate the Passage of Gennadius about Vigilantius and as he said That this Man had advanced Frivola I have heedlesly translated this Term by Bagatels tho' it may bear another signification and point out Errors which have no foundation But I do not pretend by this any ways to excuse Vigilantius from Errors which he hath advanced against the Invocation of Saints and the Veneration of Relicks nor yet to approve wholly the Sentiment of Gennadius VI. As to the Sixth Article which concerns the Advertisements which I have given to the fourth and fifth Tome I acknowledge that in the three first Pages there are Expressions very hard and if they be taken literally and generally and not according to my Intention they are capable of offending Pious Persons therefore I wish these Pages were torn out But however Protestantss would be in the wrong to draw from them any Consequence to the prejudice of the Church which I do acknowledge immoveable in her Faith and in her Manners tho' she may change in her Discipline I do acknowledge in particular that to celebrate the Mass every Day is a practice Holy and Commendable which I never design to disapprove no more than the frequent Confession of Venial Sins VII As to the seventh Head which concerns the Fathers I acknowledge that I have spoke of some of them in Terms which testify too little respect for them as relating Tom. 1. p. 60. The Judgment of Phocius upon the Works of St. Irenaeus where I should have remarked that what Phocius said in this place had a respect to other Works than those we now have It seems to me that I have drawn the Picture of Novatian too favourably and that that of Pope St. Cornelius is not favourable enough I cannot approve of what I have said of St. Gregory Nazianzen That he had much Piety but little Conduct and Policy in Business that he undertook readily great Matters but repented himself presently of having undertaken them that he had in his Life-time there Bishopricks and nevertheless it cannot be said that he was lawful Bishop of any one that his Humour was Chagrine and Satirical that he loved Raillery and spared no body I wish I had not said of St. Epiphanius that he had no Judgment nor Conduct nor Policy As I approve of what I say of St. Jerome that he was without doubt the most learned of all the Fathers so I disapprove of what I said afterwards p. beginning with these words that he turned his Adversaries into ridicule c. When I said of Severus Sulpitius that he was too credulous of Miracles and of St. Paulinus that he was too much inclined to believe Miracles and to have a veneration for Relicks I did not design to obstruct the Belief of Miracles well confirmed nor the Veneration due to Relicts well attested By what I have said of St. Augustin it doth appear how much I esteem this Father whom I own to be one of the greatest Doctors of the Church and most observant of Tradition which he hath only illustrated in all that he hath written concerning the Doctrines of Faith therefore it should not be taken in ill part what I have said p. Tom. 3. Part 1. that be very often runs away from the Sentiments of those who preceded him to follow a way altogether New whether in the Explication of Scripture or in the Opinions of Divinity Here I did not understand Matters of Faith but some Questions which are only regarded by Divines as simple Opinions In the Character which I have given of this Father there may be Expressions which are very hard above all in these Pages I have spoke with very little respect of St. Cyril his stile and manner of Expression when I said Tom. 3. Part 2. p. and that it is easy to write great quickly Volumes of this nature c. And to what I have observed of him to his disadvantage drawn from Phocius I should have added what the same Author says in his favour that he pressed Hereticks so strongly by Texts of Scripture and by Logical Reasonings that they knew not where to turn themselves I have testified sufficiently the Respect and Esteem which I have for St. Leo and when I said that he was not very fertile upon the points of Morality which he treated very drily and after a manner which rather diverted than affected I designed only to mark that he did not treat Matters of Morality so largely and so much as other Fathers tho' I do acknowledge that his Sermons are very useful and his manner of expressing things as capable to persuade as to please In the Elogy which I have given to St. Chrysologus I should have stopt at what I said p. without adding that he had nothing great or high to merit the Name of Chrysologus When I said speaking of the Book of the Celestial Hierarchy and of that of Mystical Divinity that nothing solid profitable or agreeable could be drawn from them I have spoken so only in reference to Popular Instructions acknowledging that there are in this Book things very good and very profitable for Divinity Finally if there be any other place in my History which may be contrary to the respect due to the Holy Fathers or any Terms which may be construed to their disadvantage it is against my Intention VIII As to the Eighth Article which concerneth Penitentials Casuists and Scholastick Divines what