not annexed to the sensible species but to the proper substance of his flesh which is living and life-giving because of the Divinity which is united to it Upon which account all those who believe the real presence ought not to have any difficulty to communicate under one sole species because they there receive all that is essential to this Sacrament together with a plenitude so secure because there being now no real seperation betwixt the Body and the Blood as hath been said we receive entirely and without division him who is solely capable to satiate us This is the solid foundation upon which the Church interpreting the precept of Communion as declared we may receive the Sanctification which this Sacrament carries with it under one sole species and if she have reduced her Children to this sole species it was not out of disesteem of the other seeing on the contrary she did it to hinder those Irreverences which the confusion and negligence of people had occasioned in these later ages reserving to her self the re-establishment of communion under both kinds according as it should become more advantagious to Peace and Unity Catholic Divines have made it appear to those of the pretended Reformation that they have themselves made use of several such like Interpretations in what belongs to the use of the Sacrament but above all they had reason to remark this which is taken out of the 12 chap. of their discipline Title of the Lords Supper art 7. where we find these words The Bread of the Lords Supper ought to be administred to those who cannot drink wine upon their making protestation that it is not out of contempt and endeavouring what they can possibly to obviate all Scandal even by approaching the cup as neer their mouths as they are able They have judged by this regulation that both species were not by the institution of JESVS CHRIST essential to the Communion otherwise they ought to have absolutely refused the Sacrament to those who could not receive it whole and entire and not to give it them after a manner contrary to that which JESVS CHRIST had commanded in which case their disability would have been their excuse But our adversaries conceived it would be an excessive rigour not to allow at least one of the species to those who could not receive the other and as this condescendence has no ground in Scripture they must acknowledge with us the words by which JESVS CHRIST proposes to us the two species are liable to some interpretation and that this interpretation ought to be declared by the authority of the Church But it might seem as if this article of their discipline which was made in the Synod of Poitiers held in the year 1560 had been reformed by the Synod of Vertueil held in the year 1567. where it is said the company is not of opinion the bread should be administred to those who would not receive the Cup. These two Synods nevertheless are no ways opposite That of Vertueil speaks only of those who will not receive the Cup And that of Poitiers of these only who cannot In effect notwithstanding the Synod of Vertueil this article remains in their discipline and has been also approved by a latter Synod then that of Vertueil by the Synod of la Rochell in 1571 where this article was review'd and put into that stare in which it now is But supposing the Synods of the pretended reform'd Religion had differed in their sentiments it would only follow that the matter in question regards not Faith and that it is of the number of those which are at the Churches disposal according to their own Principles SECT XVIII The written and unwritten Word THERE remains nothing more now but to explicate what Catholics believe touching the Word of God and the Authority of the Church JESVS CHRIST having laid the Foundation of his Church by Preaching the unwritten Word was the first Rule of Christianity and when the Writings of the New Testament were added this unwritten Word did not upon that account lose its Authority which makes us reiceive with equal veneration all that was ever taught by the Apostles whether by Writing or byword of Mouth as St. Paul himself has expresly declared And it is a most certain sign 2 Thes 2.14 a Doctrine comes from the Apostles when it is universally embraced by all Christian Churches without any possibility of shewing its beginning We cannot chuse but receive all that is established after this manner with the submission due to Divine Authority and we are persuaded those of the Pretended Reformation who are not obstinate are in the bottom of their Hearts of the same Opinion it being impossible to believe a Doctrine received from the beginning of the Church can flow from any other source than that of the Apostles Wherefore our Adversaries ought not to wonder if we who are careful to gather together all our Fathers have left us should conserve the Depositum of Tradition as well as that of the Scriptures SECT XIX The Authority of the Church THE Church being established by God to be the Guardian of Scripture and Tradition we receive the Canonical Scriptures from her and let our Adversaries say what they will we doubt not but it is her Authority which principally determines them to reverence as Divine Books the Canticle of Canticles which has so few visible marks of a Prophetical Inspiration the Epistle of St. James which Luther rejected and that of St. Jude which might appear suspected because of some Apocriphal Books cited in it In fine it can only be from this Authority they receive the whole Body of Scripture which all Christians accept as Divine before their reading of it has made them sensible of the Spirit of God in it Being then inseparably bound as we are to the Holy Authority of the Church by means of the Scriptures which we receive from her Hands we learn Tradition also from her and by the means of Tradition we learn the true sence of Scripture Upon which account the Church professes she tells us nothing from her self and that she invents nothing new in her Doctrine she does nothing but declare the Divine Revelation by the interiour direction of the Holy Ghost who is given to her as her teacher That Dispute which was raised in the very time of the Apostles upon account of the Ceremonies of the Law shews clearly that the Holy Ghost explicates himself by the Church and their Acts have by the method by which that first Contest was decided taught all succeeding Ages by what Authority all other differences are to be ended So that as often as there shall happen any Disputes to cause a Division amongst the Faithful the Church will interpose her Authority and her Pastors assembled will say after the Apostles Act. 15.28 It his seemed good to the Holy Ghost and to us And when she has spoken her Children will be taught they ought not to begin
the utmost Rigour Letters could no sooner return from Rome to Paris but there came also from this Learned and Holy Cardinal whose memory will be perpetuated in the Church with eternal Benediction that honourable approbation of his which you will find in the sequel among the rest that we shall speak of The Book was Printed the first time about the end of the year 1671. And this Cardinals answer is dated the 26. January 1672. Cardinal Sigismond whose death the whole Church doth still regret writ no less favourably concerning it to M. l' Abbe de Dungeau He tells us expresly that M. de Condom has spoken very well of the Popes Authority and whereas this Abbot had written him word that some scrupulous persons here apprehended lest this Exposition should be looked upon at Rome as one of those Explications of the Council prohibited by Pope Pius IV he shews how ill grounded this scruple is He adds that he found the Master of the Sacred Palace the Secretary and the Consulters of the Congregation dell ' Indice all the Cardinals that compose it and in particular the Learned Cardinal Braneas President of it of the same opinion and that they did all of them highly applaud this Treatise of the Exposition This Letter bears date the 5th of April 1672. The Master of the Sacred Palace was at time the Reverend Father Hyacinth Libelli a famous Divine whose merits and great Learning raised him shortly after to the Dignity of Archbishop of Avignon His Letter of the 26th of April 1672 written to his E. the Cardinal Sigismond shews what esteem he had of this Book for he tells him there is not so much as the shadow of a fault in it and that if the Author desire it should be Printed at Rome he will give all the necessary permissions without altering the least tittle in it In effect M. l' Abbe Nazari famous for the Journal des Scavans which he writes with so much elegance and exactness was at that time about an Italian Version of it which his E. the Cardinal d' Estrees caused to be reviewed and did himself peruse some of the principal parts that it might be entirely conformable to the Original The Book had been already done into English by the late Abbot Montaigue whose zeal and vertue is known to the whole World and there wanted not many Testimonies to shew that his Version was well received by all the Catholicks of England This Translation was Printed in the Year 1672 And in the Year 1675 it was put into Irish and Printed at Rome by the Printers of the Congregation de Propaganda Fide The Author of this Version the Reverend Father Porter of the Holy order of St. Francis and Superiour of the Convent of St. Isidorus had some time before ordered a book called Securis Evangelica to be Printed at Rome it self in which a great part of this Treatise of the Exposition was inserted to prove the tenets of the Church when faithfully expounded to be so far from ruining the Foundations of Faith that they do establish them In the mean time the Italian Version went on with an exactness which became a Subject of that importance where one word ill rendred would spoil the whole work and the Reverend Father Capisucchi Master of the Sacred Pallace Licensed it to be Printed in the Year 1675 as appears by his answer of the 27th of June following to M. de Condoms Letter of thanks for it This Prelate after having heard from several parts of Germany that this Treatise had been well approved of there received a more ample Testimony of it in a Letter of the 27th of April 1673 from the Bishop and Prince of Paderhoâ—n then Coadjutor and at present Bishop of Munster in which that Prelate whose name bears with it his Elogium says that he took care that this work should be turned into Latin that it might be made Common every where and especially in Germany but the succeeding Wars or some other occupations having hindred the performance of it the Bishop of Castory Apostolical Vicar in the United Provinces was desirous that a Latin Version which the Author himself had examined might be made publick and accordingly it was Printed at Antwerp in the Year 1678. Not long after in the same year by the same Bishops order this Treatise was again Printed at Antwerp in Dutch with the Approbation of the Ordinary and the Doctors in those parts so much did this Prelate who composes such excellent things himself judge this to be profitable for the instruction of his People The Bishop of Strasbourgh who notwithstanding the miscries of War was no less careful of his Flock resolved about the same time to procure that this Book might be turned into High Dutch and published with a Pastoral Letter to all those of his Diocess and having advertised the Pope of his design his Holiness caused him to be informed that he knew the Book long before and that as he had heard from all parts it was the occasion of many Conversions so the translation of it could not but be advantagious to his People About this time the Italian Version was finished with all the exactness and elegancy possible Monsieur l' Abbe Nazari dedicated it to the Cardinals of the Congregation de propaganda side by whose order it was printed the same Year 1678. by the Printers belonging to that Congregation In the front of this Version was placed the Cardinal Bona's Letter the Coppy of which was fouâ—â— at Rome in the Hands of his Secretary as also the Approbations of M. l' Abbe Ricci Consultor of the Holy Office of the Reverend Father M. Laurence Brancati de Laurea Religious of the Order of St. Francis Consultor and Qualificator of the Holy Office and Bibliothecarian of the Vatican and of M. L' Abbe Gradi Consultor of the Congregation Dell ' Indice and Bibliothecarian of the Vatican that is by the chief men in Rome for Piety and Learning This Book was presented to the Pope as the Latin Translation had been before And he had the goodness to order M. l' Abbe de St. Luke to write to the Author and to let him know that he was satisfied with it which he also repeated several times to the French Embassadour The Author who thought he had nothing more to wish for after such an Approbation gave with a profound respect his most humble thanks to the Pope in a Letter dated Nov. 22. 1678. In answer to which he received a Breve from his Holiness of the Fourth of Jan. 1679 which contains such an express approbation of this Book that it cannot be hereafter doubted but it maintains the pure Doctrine of the Church and of the Apostolick See After this approbation I needed not to have mentioned any others but I was willing to shew how this Book which was threatned by the Ministers with such opposition in the Church and which they imagined was so contrary to her common
by Faith present upon this Holy Table together with these Signs of Death we unite our selves to him in this Estate we present him to God as our only Victim and our sole Propitiator by his Blood confessing we have nothing to offer up to God but JESVS CHRIST and the infinite Merit of his Death We consecrate all our Prayers by this Holy Oblation and in presenting JESVS CHRIST to God we learn at the same time to offer up our selves to the Divine Majesty in him and by him as living Sacrifices This is the Sacrifice of Christians infinitely different from what was offered up in the Old Law a Spiritual Sacrifice becoming the New Covenant in which the presence of the Victim is only perceived by Faith in which the Word of God is the Spiritual Sword which makes a Mystical separation betwixt the Body and the Blood in which by consequence the Blood is only shed Mystically and in which Death only intervenes by representation and yet however a most real Sacrifice in as much as JESVS CHRIST is there truly contained and presented to his Father under this Figure of Death But a Commemorative Sacrifice which is so far from taking away our adhesion to the Sacrifice of the Cross as it is objected to us on the contrary it fixes us the firmer to it by all its circumstances seeing it has not only an entire relation to it but in reality has neither being nor subsistence but by this relation from whence it deriveth all the Vertue contained in it This is the express Doctrine of the Catholic Church in the Council of Trent which teaches that this Sacrifice is instituted only to represent that which was once accomplished upon the Cross Sess 22. c. 1. to perpetuate the memory of it to the end of the World and to apply to us the saving Vertue of it for the remission of those sins which we commit every day So that the Church is so far from believing that something wants to perfect the Sacrifice of the Cross on the contrary she thinks it so perfect and so fully sufficient as what is added is only instituted to celebrate the memory and apply its Vertue By which the same Church acknowledges that all the merit of the Redemption of Mankind depends upon the Death of the Son of God and it ought to be understood from all we have already expounded that when we say to God in the Celebration of the Divine Mystery We offer unto you this Holy Host we pretend not by this Oblation to make or present to God a new payment of the price of our Salvation but to offer up to him in our behalfs the Merits of our Blessed JESVS there present and the infinite price which he once paid for us upon the Cross The Gentlemen of the Pretended Reform'd Religion do not think they offend JESVS CHRIST by offering him to God as present to their Faith and if they believed him to be really there what repugnance could they have to offer him up as truly present So that the whole dispute ought indeed to be reduced to the real presence alone From hence forwards all those false Ideas which these Gentlemen of the Pretended Reform'd Religion form to themselves of the Sacrifice which we offer ought to be effaced They ought freely to acknowledge Catholics pretend not to make a new propitiation to appease God anew as if he had not been sufficiently satisfied by the Sacrifice of the Cross or to make some addition to the Price of our Salvation as if it were imperfect All these things have no place in our Doctrine because all that is here done is intended by way of Intercession and Application after the manner which we have now explicated SECT XV. The Epistle to the Hebrews AFter this Explication those mighty Objections drawn from the Epistle to the Hebrews and so much enforced against us will appear to have little reason in them and it is in vain our Adversaries strive to prove from the sentiments of the Apostle that we annul the Sacrifice of the Cross But because the best way to prove that two Doctrines are not opposite to one another is to shew by explicating them that no proposition of the one is contrary to any of the propositions of the other I think I am bound in this place to propose in short the Doctrine of this Epistle The Apostle intends in this Epistle to teach us that a sinnner could not avoid Death but by substituting some one in his place to die for him that whilst Men substituted only Beasts to be killed in their places their Sacrifices operated nothing but a publick acknowledgment of their having deserved Death and that seeing the Divine Justice could not be satisfied by so unequal an exchange they begun again every day to slay new Victims which was a certain mark of the insufficiency of that substitution But that since JESVS CHRIST had vouchsafed to die for Sinners God being satisfied by a Person substituting of himself so condignly sufficient and nothing more to exact for the price of our Redemption From whence the Apostle concludes we ought not only to offer up no more Victims after JESVS CHRIST but that JESVS CHRIST himself ought to be but once offered up to Death for us Let the Reader then who is solicitous for his Souls Salvation and a lover of Truth reflect a little upon what we have said concerning the manner how JESVS CHRIST offers up himself to God for us in the Eucharist I am certain he will not find any Proposition contrary to those which I have here related from the Apostle or which weakens his Argument so that nothing can be objected to us but his silence upon this point But those who would but consider the wise distribution which God makes of his secrets in the several Books of Scripture would not oblige us to receive from the sole Epistle to the Hebrews all our instructions concerning a matter which was not necessary to the Subject of that Epistle seeing the Apostle intends to explicate in it the perfection of the Sacrifice of the Cross and not the different manners which God has instituted to apply it to us And to remove all equivocation if we take the word Offer in the sence it is made use of in this Epistle as implying the actual Death of the Victim we will publickly confess that JESVS CHRIST is now no more offered up neither in the Eucharist nor any where else But because this word has a larger signification in other places of Scripture where it is often said We offer up to God what we present before him the Church which forms her Language and her Doctrine not from the sole Epistle to the Hebrews but from the whole Body of the Holy Scripture is not afraid to say that JESVS CHRIST offers up himself to God whereever he appears before his Face upon our behalf and that by consequence he offers up himself in the Eucharist according to
contrary full of Esteem for this Work I discoursed of it likewise to the Cardinals of the Congregation and amongst all the rest I found Cardinal Brancas much enclined to praise the Author and esteem the Book So that I doubt not but M. de Condom will receive here the same approbation which has been given him every where else and which is so legitimately due both to his Learning and his Labour I am very much obliged to you for having given me the means of admiring him and have perceived in this your old and ordinary goodness The Author is close in his Proofs and explicates very clearly the Subject he treats on in shewing the true difference betwixt the belief of Catholics and that of the Enemies of the Church I do not think the method he takes to explicate the Doctrine taught in the Council of Trent can in the least be disapprov'd This Method having been practised by many other Writers and being handled throughout his whole Book with great Exactness Certainly it was never his Intention to give the Interpretation of the Tenets of the Council but only to deliver them in his Book rightly explicated in such sort that Heretics may be convinc'd and especially in those things which the Holy Church obliges them to believe He speakes perfectly well of the Popes Authority and whereever he treats of the visible Head of the Church he appears full of respect for the Holy See In fine I must tell you once again M. de Condom cannot be too much commended c. Rome April the 5th 1672. A Letter from the Reverend Father HIACINTHUS LIBELLI at that time Master of the Sacred Palace and now Arch-Bishop of Avignon to the Cardinal SIGISMOND CHIGI I Have read M. de Condom's Book which contains an Exposition of the Doctrine of the Church I am extreamly indebted to your Eminence for giving me the opportunity of employing four hours so profitably and with so much Pleasure It is impossible for me to express how much this work has pleased me both for the peculiar Excellence of the design and for the Proofs which correspond to it The Doctrine is sound in all its parts and without the smallest shadow of a fault As for my self I cannot see what can be objected against it and if the Author would have the Book Printed at Rome I will give all the necessary Approbations without changing a single Word This Author who has a great deal of Wit has shown a great deal of Judgment too in this Treatise where laying aside disputes which ordinarily speaking do but encrease Dissentions it being rare to find any who will grant the Preheminence of Wit to their Companions he has found out another and more easie Method of treating with the Calvinists from which much better Fruit may be expected In effect as soon as they can be brought to lay aside that horrour which they have sucked in with their Milk against our Tenets they come more willingly towards us and discovering the insincerity of that Doctrine which they learn'd from their Masters the principal Maxim of which is That our Doctrines are horrid and incredible they apply themselves with more tranquillity of Mind to search into Catholic Verities This is what they must be carefully exhorted to sinee there is no better Method to make them renounce their Errors and your Eminence had great reason when you lately said That Catholic Truth will always be victorious in the Mind of every man of Sense who will only without prejudice consider it in comparison with Heresy I take the Liberty to write this long Discourse to your Eminence not being able to contain within my self the Pleasure which the reading of this Book you have been pleased to let me have has afforded me I beg your Eminence will continue the like Favours to me c. Rome 26 April 1672. A Letter from the Bishop and Prince of PADERBORNE at that time Coadjutor and now Bishop of Munster to the Author THE most Christian King when he entrusted to you the Instruction and Education of his Son born to so much Greatness did by his Judgment alone sufficiently recommend your Knowledg and your Merit to all the World and all Posterity yet you have given a new Lustre to your Reputation and to the Christian Doctrine by an immortal Monument of your Worth I would say by that most excellent Book whose Title is An Exposition of the Doctrine of the Catholic Church which has not only gained the vast applause of Catholics but forced the Heretics themselves to give deserved Praises to your Judgment and Erudition In this most admirable Treatise there appears a most incredible facility to unfold the most difficult the most sublime and most divine things and at the same time a most winning candor and a truly Christian Charity and Bounty capable to draw with sweetness all those who are set in Darkness and in the shadow of Death and to enlighten and conduct them into the way of Peace Insomuch that you seem to be chosen amongst the Bishops to reduce the Enemies of Catholic Faith under the easie Yoak of Truth To the end therefore the effects of this great work might be the more extended and might spread it self throughout all Germany and amongst other Nations I had formed to my self a design of having it put into Latin but after having read your Letter of the 24th of April I had a doubt whether I ought to proceed any further in it or quit my design because I perceived you were as perfect a Master of the Latin Tongue as of the French and that you writ it with so much Purity that if any other should undertake to translate your Works instead of adorning those curious Products of your Wit he might on the contrary discredit them You ought the rather therefore to be desired to put your self in Latin what you have published But seeing that perhaps you have not leisure and if you had it would be much better you should be employed in the Composition of more new Works than in the translation of those you have already Composed because you admit of it I will hasten him to whom I have committed it to finish what he has begun and will send you the Version of your own Book that you may review and correct it your self What remains for me is always infinitely to honour your Vertue and Learning and to make it my endeavour to cultivate that Friendship which my care of the Version and your Bounty have given so favourable a beginning to Continue still to love me most worthy Prelate who serve the Church so well and while you give the Dauphin so many excellent instructions contrive for me a place in the remembrance and affection of so great a Prince Give if you please my most humble Service to the Duke de Montausier In my Castle at the confluence of the Lippe the Padere and the Alise the 29th of May 1673 A Letter from the Reverend Father