Falsitatis Greg. lib. 11. Moral cap. 15. which is no where more certain than in Revealed Truths Non indiget Deus nostro mendacio ut pro illo loquamur dolos Job 13.7 You thought doubtless that to represent that all Religions and all publick Laws had owned One God would be a Choak-Pear to Atheism and confound the Atheists whereas this being not true it hath a contrary effect The other part is much more cogent drawn from Fathers that all Men have a natural Knowledge of One God and that so deeply imprinted in their Soul that maugre all the pleasant Fables of the Poets the Pomp of Ceremonies and Religious Rites the Force of bad Education the Sophisms of Philosophers the Blasphemies of wicked Men the Strength of Laws the Rigor of Torments the Terror of Death and the Wiles of the Devil it persevered and so possessed the Heart as in some Occasions to force its Profession out of the Mouth Certainly this Voice of Nature triumphing over all the Force and Art of Men and Devils is a clearer Testimony of One God preserving his Possession in and over his Rational Creatures and controlling all adjectitious Notions than any Demonstration Man's Wit can invent Especially some Atheists laboring to weaken this Argument from the Notion of a Deity by saying that Idea is not of Nature but raised by Education and Human Laws Which Plea is evidently defeated by that Truth that Laws Religion and Custom were once against it and all concurring to promote the Opinion of Many Gods thô all in vain Secondly I advise you not so easily to draw from a resemblance in Name or Number Pagan Errors to the Mysteries of Christian Faith. With what little ground you drew from Jupiter the Name of God hath been seen pag. 451. You say the Roman Capitol was Dedicated to the Blessed Trinity because a Poet said Trina in Torpaeo fulgent consortia Templo viz. Jupiter Minerva and Juno And pag. 454. so it should be thô it be marked 414. you find the Trinity in Agypt viz. Eicton Memphta and Osyris You might as well find the same Mystery in the Three Graces Three Parks Three Gorgons Three Furies Three Judges Three Rivers Three-headed Cerberus Three-bodied Geryon if that number be sufficient for it I doubt not but the Mystery was revealed in the Old Testament nor that some Platonicks knew it S. Austin assures they did thô he doth not acquaint us in what Age these lived so they may have learnt it from the Christians Yet I think it most certain that there never was any Temple Dedicated or Sacrifice Offered by Pagans to the Three Divine Persons for out of the Scripture I have learned that What they sacrificed they sacrificed to Devils and not to God. I am Yours as much as I can be Salvâ Veritate J. W. An INDEX of the Chapters CHAP. 1. Mr. G. B. his Design and Disposition when he writ this Book Of the Wickedness of the World. Page 1. Chap. 2. Of Antichrist Page 6. Chap. 3. The true Designs of Christian Religion Page 10. Chap. 4. G. B. his Explication of the Designs of Christianity Page 15. Chap. 5. Of the Characters of Christian Doctrin Page 19. Chap. 6. Scriptures supprest Page 22. Chap. 7. A Digression touching the Idolatry of the Pagans ill represented by E. S. D. D. Page 29. Section 1. That Pagans thought their Idols to be Gods. Page 30. Section 2. The Beginning and Occasions of Idolatry Page 41. Section 3. What were the Gods of the Pagans Or What things were represented by their Idols Where it is proved that Pagan Gods had been Men. Page 51. Section 4. That the Jupiter O. M. of the Greeks and Romans was not the True God. Page 67. Section 5. Whether all or the greatest part of the Pagans believed the one True God Page 83. Section 6. Of the unknown God at Athens Page 96. A Conclusion of this Treatise Page 98. Chap. 8. What G. B. says to prove Catholics Idolaters Page 102. Chap. 9. Of Mediating Spirits Page 105. Chap. 10. Of the Intercession of Saints Page 113. Chap. 11. Pretended Charms Where of Holy-Water Wax-Candles Agnus Dei's c. Page 124. Chap. 12. Of Ceremonies Page 128. Chap. 13. Scripture and the Church Where of the Resolution of Faith. Page 134. Chap. 14. Of Merits Page 148. Chap. 15. Of Temporal Punishment due to Sin forgiven Page 150. Chap. 16. Of Purgatory Page 154. Chap. 17. Priestly Absolution Page 162. Chap. 18. Of Penances Fasting Prayer and Pilgrimages Page 167 Section 1. Fasting Page 169. Section 2. Prayer Page 171. Section 3. Pilgrimages Page 174. Section 4. Two Objections Answered Page 179. Chap. 19. Sacrifice of the Mass Page 180. Chap. 20. Regal Office of Christ Where of Transubstantiation Dispensing in Vows c. Page 184. Chap. 21. Of Love and its two Species Repentance Mortal and Venial Sins Attrition and Contrition Page 188. Chap. 22. Theological Vertues Page 196. Section 1. Of Faith. Page 197. Section 2. Of Hope Page 201. Section 3. Of Charity or Love. Page 204. Section 4. An Answer to what G. B. objects Page 207. Chap. 23. Efficacy of Sacraments Page 210. Chap. 24. Probable Opinions and Good Intentions Page 212. Chap. 25. Whether Papists allow to break the Commandments Page 219. Chap. 26. Riches and Pride of Churchmen Page 225. Chap. 27. Vnity of the Church in Faith and Sacraments G. B. owns that Protestants are Schismatics Of Severity against Dissenters And of Hugo Grotius Page 229. Chap. 28. Zeal of Souls in our Bishops And concerning Reformers Where of S. Cyran Arnaud and Jansenius Page 235. Chap. 29. Other small Objections Page 247. A Conclusion of the First and Beginning of the Second Part. Page 250. Chap. 30. Catholic Faith delivered by Men Divinely Inspired Rules to know true Tradition Faith never changed Page 353. Chap. 31. Revelations and Miracles Page 262. Chap. 32. Whether all Mysteries of Faith ought to be common Page 268. Chap. 33. Faith not dependant on Senses Page 275. Chap. 34. Mr. G. B. his Intention in his Books and his Meekness to Catholics Page 281. Chap. 35. Reasons why Catholics do not embrace the Communion of the Protestant Church Page 287. Chap. 36. Greater Exercise of Piety amongst Catholics than Protestants Page 295. Chap. 37. No Houses of Devotion nor Spiritual Books amongst Protestants Page 301. Chap. 38. Protestant Doctrins contrary to Piety Page 308. Postscript to Mr. Cudworth D. D. Page 315. FINIS
indeed commanded to write to himself a copy of the Law out of that which was before the Priests the Levits By which it appears that even Copies of the Law were not so ordinary Which may be gathered also out of 4 Kings c. 22. there was such Astonishment at the finding and reading of the Book of the Law newly found in the Temple The Ten Commandments were common the Pharisees Phylacteries prove it As for the rest it was divided into Parashots Sections and read unto the People when they met on the Sabbath as you may see Acts 15.21 And in the Second of Esdras cap. 8. And the same Custome is still in the Catholic Church which in her Service doth dayly read some of the New and Old Testament G. B. Pag. 14. What pains are taken by Papists to detract from the Authority of Scriptures how they quarrel its Darkness its Ambiguousness the Genuineness of its Originals Answer This is a Calumny We all unanimously own Scripture to be the Word of God that no Untruth can be found in it Out of its Darkness and Ambiguity we shew the necessity of receiving its Sense from Tradition and not sticking to the bare Letter of the Scripture without the Sense which is to the Letter what a Soul is to the Body G. B. Pag. 15. We complain of Scripture being two much perused Answer Another Calumny In all our Universities we have Masters of Scriptures who in those I know take place of those even of Divinity Which shews the esteem we make of that study G. B. Pag. 15. Let as little of it be in Vulgar Tongues as can be Answer A Third Calumny It is all in English translated by the Rhemish and Doway Colleges and in French by the Doctors of Lovain And as for the New Testament it is publish'd in French by Rene Benoit Brulot Villeloin and Amelot Besides other Editions less noted And if there hath been no new Translation in English it is not for any Decrees forbidding it but because that first Translation is liked in gross and if any thing be defective as is unavoidable in all Works of Men it is not considerable and the like or worse may be fear'd in another G. B. Pag. 19. We read it publickly in an unknown Tongue in Latin. Answer If this proves our Dislike of the Scriptures it will likewise prove our Dislike of Councils and Popes Bulls which you say we prefer before Scriptures seeing these were never extant in any Vulgar Language Latin cannot truly absolutely be call'd An unknown Tongue in the Latin Church seeing it is the Language of her Schools of her Public Service of her Laws of her Tribunals of her Councils and in many places as in Polony and higher and lower Germany of almost every particular person where very ordinarily even Carters and Watermen speak it And as for Spaniards and Italians with little application they understand it by reason of the Affinity betwixt their own and the Latin Tongue So English cannot absolutely be said to be an unknown Tongue in Wales and Ireland tho' in both there are several who understand it not If this be not a sufficient Vindication of our Church how will you excuse your own from the same Fault which never translated the Scripture into Irish but uses English in Ireland even where there are many thousands who understand it as little as Latin is understood by any Catholic G. B. Pag. 15. We permit no private person the use of it without Allowance from his Confessor Answer A Fourth Calumny In Latin Greek or Hebrew it is universally permitted to all In France no Body scruples at the reading of it in French provided the Editions be approved Your Brethren there could have informed you better seeing they have had the Confusion to see their Ministers mouths stopt by Cutlers and Shoemakers out of their own Bible which could not be had they not read it If the Opinion of a Confessor be demanded it is to know the Disposition of the person who desires it whether it be such as good may be hoped from that reading All Food is designed by Almighty God for the use of Man yet without any Injury to the Patient a Physitian may forbid him the use of some which would nourish peccant Humors So Scriptures are designed for our Instruction unto Piety to God and Peace to our Neighbors If any mans mind be possest with Opinions contrary to both and these Opinions controul all Instruction given him so as all serve only to confirm him in his impiety and turbulent Humor would you not advise him a Diet from such strong Food as Scripture For Example lately a great part of the Commonalty of our Nation was so posest with a Spirit of Rebellion against Ecclesiastical and Civil Government that altho there be scarce any thing more recommended in holy Writ than Obedience to Prelate and Prince yet they thought the whole Drift of Scripture abetted their Treason not that any such thing was to be found in Scripture but that they fancied it there as Men fancy that the Bells speak articulate Words In that conjuncture what Advice would you give to an Ignorant Man to be satisfied with Books of Devotion and Instructions drawn from Scripture which might keep him humble and peaceable or to continue reading the Scriptures which he thought preached Sedition and from which through his bad Disposition he was confirmed in his Rebellions and Antichristan Courses Another motive why the Confessors Advice is demanded is that he might instruct Men how to Read and reap Benefit from the Reading To Read with the Humility of a Scholer not the Presumption of a Master to make rather a Prayer than a Study of it To resolve to practise what they understand and adore God for what they understand not So that whether they do or do not comprehend what they read they glorifie God in all and grow in Vertue After such Instructions apply'd to the Condition of every one the Benefit will be much greater and the danger of ill using it much diminished CHAP. VII A Digression touching the Idolatry of the Pagans ill represented by E. S. D. D. THis matter is as clear in it self as any antiquated Rights can be all Men are possest with an Opinion that as the word imports the deluded Nations did Adore Idols as their Gods. S. Austin l. 20. contra Faust c. 20. having said that Latria was the Worship given to God alone as he is distinguished from all his Creatures how holy soever he says Ad hunc cultum pertinet oblatio Sacrificii unde Idololatria dicitur eorum qui hoc Sacrificium etiam Idolis offerunt That to offer Sacrifice is an Act of Latria whence those are called Idolaters who offer it to Idols This seems clear yet our modern Protestants to make good the Charge of Idolatry against the present Cath. Church raise a great Mist before their Readers Eyes and misrepresent Idolatry in such colours as may afterwards
Catholics when they commend the Gospel but you do not well in believing them when they blame Manioheus do you think me such a Fool as without any reason I should believe what pleases you and not believe what you dislike Certainly it is much more reasonable seeing I must believe the Catholics that I abandon your Communion unless you can give me an evident Demonstration for the contrary Wherefore if you will alledge Reason lay by the Gospel If you retain the Gospel I will stick to those upon whose word I have admitted the Gospel and their Authority forces me to renounce you Now if perchance you can shew out of the Gospel any evident proof of Manichaeus his Apostleship you will indeed weaken in me the Authority of Catholics who forbid me to believe you But that Authority being weakned I shall no more be able to believe the Gospel which I received by it and so whatsoever you prove thence will fall to the ground Therefore if no clear proof of Manichaeus his Mission is extant in the Gospel I will rather believe the Catholics than you If a clear proof be found there I will neither believe the Catholics nor you Not them because they were false in the Opinion they delivered of you Not you because you rely on that Scripture which I received on the testimony of those who have deceived me Yet God forbid I should reject the Gospel and believing it I see no possibility of believing you Thus the great Saint which I have cited at large because the whole Discourse holds against all Heresies changing only the Name of Manichaeus or Manichean into that which signifies the Heresie as for Example into that of Protestant or Luther Morcover it contains a clear Confutation of what hath hitherto by the Learnedst of our Adversaries been said in Answer to it The first Interpretation of this Place is delivered by W. L. in his Relation of a Conference pag. 81. Some of your own says he will not endure it should be understood save of the Church in the time of the Apostles only and then cites Ockam Dial. p. 1. l. 1. c. 4. Where he hath not one word of that But says Mr. Still in his Rational Account p. 198. the words are in Durandus l. 3. Insent d. 24. q. 1. n. 9. where he says Intelligitur solùm de Ecclesiâ quae fuit tempore Apostolorum It is understood only of the Church which was in the time of the Apostles The same Author borrows another Explication of Biel Lect. 2. in Can. Missae That the words are to be understood of the Church in general as it contains the first and later Ages A tempore Christi Apostolorum c. And to this he sticks for he adds And so doth S. Augustin take Eccles contra Fund And Dr. Still p. 198 199 approves the same and confirms it out of Gerson and Driedo Neither of these two Explications can stand with the Text as appears out of those words Quibus obtemperavi dicentibus Credite Evangelio cur eis non obtemperem dicentibus mihi noli credere Manichaeo Whom I obeyed in saying Believe the Gospel should I not obey in saying Do not believe Manichaeus Hence I frame this Argument St. Augustin professeth he received the Gospel upon the credit of that Church which condemned Manichaeus But that Church which condemned Manichaeus was that of his time and not that of the Apostles who never mentioned Manichaeus Ergo the Church on whose word he received the Gospel was that of his time and not that of the Apostles When therefore E. S. p. 220. says It is plain St. Austin means not the Judgment of the present Church but of the Catholic Church as taking in all Ages and Places he evidently contradicts the very Text of St. Austin whence I conclude that either he speaks against his Conscience which I am unwilling to believe or else which is more excusable that he had not read the Text which he undertakes to Explicate A Third and yet more improbable Explication is delivered by W. L. p. 82. He speaks it either of Novices or Doubters in the Faith or else of such as were in part Infidels Mr. Fisher the Jesuit at the Conference would needs have it that St. Austin spake it even of the Faithful which I cannot yet think for he speaks to the Manichees and they had a great part of the Infidel in them And the words immediately before these are If thou shouldst find one qui Evangelio non credit which did not believe the Gospel what wouldst thou do to make him believe Thus W. L. This is likewise plainly false for S. Austin was neither a Novice nor a Doubter in the Faith nor in part an Infidel when he writ that Book for he writ it after he was made Bishop as you may see Lib. 2. Retract c. 2. But he speaks of himself and describes the ground of his own Faith Ergo he doth not speak of Novices Doubters or half Infidels nor describes the ground of their Faith but of those who are firm Believers I prove that S. Austin speaks of his own Faith and shews the ground on which it relied For first he says I would not believe the Gospels without the Authority of Catholics commending them Secondly he says If you weaken the Authority of Catholics I will reject the Gospel This I believe Mr. Stillingst saw and therefore said pag. 20. If you extend this beyond Novices and Weaklings I shall not oppose you in it And I cannot think that W. L. had read that place at least with attention when he writ He could not think S. Austin spoke of the Faithful Stilling pag. 220. Neither you nor any Catholic Author is able to prove that S. Austin by these words ever dreamt of any infallible Authority in the present Church Ans Seeing S. Austin expresly says He would renounce the Gospel if the Authority of Catholics were weakned in him by discovering they had delivered any one Lye he must either think them exempt from all possibility of Lying or else he adhered very loosly to the Gospel I hope E. S. will not assert the later part wherefore he must grant that S. Austin thought the Church free from all possibility of Error Let us return to Mr. G. B. G. B. pag. 43. Christ's Prophetic Office is invaded by the pretence of the Churches Infallibility in Expounding Scriptures And why good Sir should the Infallibility in Expounding Scriptures be an Invasion of the Prophetic Office of Christ seeing Infallibility in writing them was no such thing Certainly it is more to compose a Writing than to understand it as many can understand Cicero's Speech pro Milone who cannot compose such an one And your old Women pretend to understand several parts of Scripture which yet I think will scarce undertake to Pen the like By this say you the whole Authority is devolved on the Church No more than it was on S. John when he writ his Gospel
for that reason you ought to suspect you would be forced to own that S. Ignatius de Loyola hath reformed the Clergy establishing a Congregation of Clergy-men who live more conformably to the most ancient Canons and the Ecclesiastics of the Primitive Church than any your whole Reformation hath or shall be ever able to shew Which you would perceive did you reflect that the numerous and bitter Enemies which they have had never do alledge any thing against their Lives or Rules which is a convincing Proof they are irreprochable Now a word to those whom you commend for endeavoring a Reformation of the R. C. Jean du Verger Abbot of S. Cyran was only a private Priest not a Doctor of Divinity nor recommended by any other Degree which might distinguish him from the meanest having no Jurisdiction even over the Abby of which he bore the Title But his Personal Endowments either to good or evil were exceeding great A Large and comprehensive Fancy a tenacious Memory and a Judgment to use all his Learning seasonably Deep Melancholy abounding with adust Choler was his Temper The first fitted him for the Labor of hard Studies the second emboldned him to write whatsoever he fancied without any regard to Persons how great soever Those who particularly knew him say that no History shews a Man of a more intriguing Wit and fitter to Head a Faction For using too much this Faculty he was by the King's Authority cast into Prison being accused by a Bishop whom he had before inveigled who discovered his Designs thrô horror of them Cardinal de Richelieu being solicited to release him by R. S. late Bishop of Chalcedon answered Your Lordship doth not know the Man you speak for Had our Fathers dealt so with Calvin France had enjoyed Peace Now I would know of Mr. B. whether it be tolerable for a private Man to Cabal in his own Church to frame a Party in it besides and contrary to the Orders of its lawful Superiors oppose all established Order to unsettle old Customs and introduce new ones to make way for a new Government If you approve this in S. Cyran how can you blame it in your Phanatics Antony Arnaud was once a Doctor of the Faculty of Paris but was cast out of it and Degraded by the other Doctors for his odd Sentiments in matters of Grace which he obstinately defended even after they were Censured by Rome France and his own Faculty And why might not that Faculty retrench from its Body Members who refuse to submit to the major part as by the Law of Nature all are bound to do where there appears no Sin I know of no other Persecution he ever endured As to his Book of the Frequent Communion it tended not to the reforming but to the destroying the Sacrament of Penance as is seen by its effects where it prevails I will not say he designed so much I leave Intentions to God the Searcher of Hearts Jerem. 17.10 Many times a Buck is shot at and a Man is killed However it was inexcusable in him to endeavor to change the Customs and Laws established by the Church and in force His Title of Doctor could entitle him only to explicate the Laws received and conform to them not to abrogate and reform them for a Doctor as such hath no Jurisdiction without which no Laws can be made or unmade The least Bishop nay the meanest Curate of a Parish hath greater Power as to Laws than the greatest Doctor as such seeing those have some Jurisdiction and this hath none at all Cornelius Jansenius was a Bishop so his Case is different from the rest for he had Jurisdiction Yet why he should be cited amongst the Reformers I know not He hath written several Works Mars Gallicus Annotations on the Pentateuch and the Gospels Alexipharmacum and his Augustinus His Mars Gallicus is an Invective against the French Designs His Annotations and Augustinus do not touch the Discipline of the Church He contradicts in them some Points of the Doctrin of the Church Defined in the Council of Trent which drew the Censure of Rome on the later Work of his yet without touching his Person who by his Will submitted his Augustinus to the Censure of Rome in whose Communion he always lived and did then die as an obedient Son of it To know the opinion he had of your Faction read his Alexipharmacum which he writ against your Brethren at Boysleduc and you will see it What reason have you to complain of Severity used towards him I know of none his Person was never touched by any Censure As for the Disciples of S. Cyran and Jansenius I grant there is amongst them a Spirit of Independantism and what Assembly of Men is entirely free from such Yet you cannot glory in them if what Mr. Brevint says in his Preface to Saul and Samuel at Endor be true that they are more dangerous to a Protestant than even Missionaries and Jesuits and therefore warns all to avoid their Company So that even those who dislike something in us condemn you CHAP. XXIX Other small Objections G. B. p. 112. PApists make Children Bishops allow of Pluralities Non-residences Commendams c which are every day granted at Rome Answ Here are a company of hard words to fright your Reader from Rome as Birds are frighted from Corn with a Rattle and there is likewise more noise than substance in both I have lived in the greatest Catholic Princes Dominions and never saw nor heard of what you say is daily done Our Canons require Thirty years for a Bishop few are made so young most are promoted to that Dignity very ancient Yet this Age being determined only by Ecclesiastical Law I will not deny but that on some extraordinary Motive some have been dispensed with If you blame this see how you will excuse S. Paul who made S. Timothy Bishop of Ephesus in his Youth 1. Tim. 4.12 If you condemn Pluralities in our Church how will you excuse your own in which they are practised Must the Canon Law be a Cable-rope to us and a Cobweb to you If you dislike Pluralities begin with reforming your own Brethren his Majesties Chaplains in Ordinary who can find a Conscience to keep two Benefices if they meet with a Prince who will bestow them As for Non-residences (a) Vide Aug. Epist 138. I dedemand Whether it be not lawful for a Bishop to be absent from his Diocese in the Circumstances following 1. For the good of the Church as in General or Particular Councils 2. For the good of the Nation as in our Parliaments 3. For the good of their Dioceses as when Flavianus Patriarch of Antioch went to Constantinople to preserve his Episcopal Seat from being ruined by appeasing Theodosius the Great offended for the throwing down of his Statues 4. For any other Reason so weighty that evidently it may be equivalent to the good which his Residence might bring No Papist thinks them lawful
but only on such Occasions for as for such who do absent themselves either for Ambition or Envy or Pleasure or Friendship or any other unlawful Design or for some good but so little as not to countervail that of their Duty to their Flock we no less blame them than you our Canons for Residence are as severs as can be and those often executed with the utmost rigor What do you more Commendams offend you that is the recommending the Means of Abbeys to those who are not Monks Yet we give them only to Clergy you to meer Laymen Secondly we give them only for their Lives you give them to their Heirs Executors Administrators and Assigns Thirdly we leave the Abby and its legal Superiors a competent Subsistence for the Monks you turn them a begging out of God's Blessing into the warm Sun. When you have proved that it is more lawful for your Church to steal a Goose than for ours to pluck a Quill I shall believe your Procedure legal and ours illegal G. B. ibid. They strugled hard against the honest Attempt of those who labored to have had Residence declared to be of Divine Right in the Council of Trent Answ What might the Catholic Church do to please you Had she pass'd that Declaration you would have clamored at your ordinary rate against new Definitions of Faith now she rejected that Definition she opposed the honest Attempt to promote it and she must be in the wrong and those who oppose her in the right whatever she or they do because she is the Church and they a discontented Party in her In fine as the Jews proceeded with our Saviour the Bridegroom so do you with the Bride the Catholic Church her Actions whatever they are are blamed To what are the men of this genertion like They are like unto children sitting in the market-place and saying We have piped unto you and ye have not danced we have mourned unto you and you have not wept Luc. 7.32 For doth the Church make a Decree you blame her for it doth she not make it you blame her for that too But Wisdom is justified by all her children A Conclusion of the First and Beginning of the Second Part. G. B. p. 116. I Have run around the great Circle I proposed to my self and have examined the Designs of Christian Religion and have found great contradiction given to them by the Doctrins of that Church Answ You have indeed run a Round and that so long that you are giddy with it as appears by your frequent and great Falls so evidently against common Sense as I have all along observed and yet I have not observed all for that would have been too tedious to the Reader and have taken up more time than I can bestow upon Trifles You have shewn no Contradiction betwixt the Doctrin of the Catholic Church and the Designs of Christianity I have shewn their Conformity But your Book discovers a Design against Charity which is the Heart of Religion it being a heap of rash Judgments evident Calumnies or uncharitable Surmises I say nothing of your Faults against Reason your incoherent Notions groundless Judgments and perpetual Sophisms because althô these are great Faults in themselves yet not considerable in presence of those others against Charity And these Faults are the greater for being brought to uphold a Schism a Design contrary to Christianity it being a most certain Truth that No Man can have the Love of God who withstands the Vnion of all Men in one Church Non habet Dei Charitatem qui Ecclesiae non diligit unitatem Aug. l. 3. de Baptis cont Donat. c. 16. And all your Pretences of Causes given of your Separation are but frivolous this tearing in pieces the my stical Body of Christ is so great a Sacrilege that no Pretext can excuse it Apparet saith S. Austin l. 2. contra Epist Parmen c. 11. non esse quicquam gravius sacrilegio schismatis quia praecidendae unitatis nulla est justa necessitas When I saw you reflect on your running so long round in a Circle I hoped you would come out of it and was in hopes that either I might have been a Spectator of your following Course or else that you would have led me a more pleasing Walk The Design of S. Austin Lib. 1. Retract cap. 7. came to my Mind who represented the Piety of Catholics and the vicious Lives of the Manichees in his two Books De moribus Ecclesiae Catholicae and De moribus Manichaeorum and I imagined you might design the like in the two Parts of this Book I expected you would have given us a Panegyric of your own Church after you had spent your Satyrical Vein in your Invective against ours I thought we should have seen described the Beauty of the Protestant Church the Advantages of Communion with it the Perfection of its Faith the Decency of its Ceremonies the Majesty of its Hierarchy the Reasonableness of its Canons the Fulness of its Conducency to Piety in this Life and Bliss in the next and all these confirmed with Examples of the vertuous Lives of its Devotes But how much have I been mistaken for casting an Eye a little farther after some few words in commendation of your Faith I find you throwing Dirt again as fast as before or rather faster as if in the First Part you had only essayed what in the Second you act in earnest Doth your Garden the Church Cant. 4.12 is compared to one afford only that one Flower Is the Soil so barren or so ill cultivated as none else should be found in it Or if there be any other do they thrive so ill as not to be worth being pointed to Or doth it come from a morosity of Nature which inclines you to blame and reprehend Or from a propensity to entertain thoughts only of Faults and Imperfections as Flies pitch upon Ulcers and some other Creatures wallow in Mire Or from another Quality worse than that which turns all to bad as a foul Stomach turns all Food into peccant Humors and a Spider draws Poyson from that Flower whence a Bee draws Hony Something of this must be for I will neither say there is nothing reprehensible in the Lives of Catholics it is a Propriety of the Triumphant Church to be free from any Spot or Wrinkle nor that all is bad in Protestants besides their Faith that being the Condition of the Damned Spirits in Hell. But I supersede these Personal Reflections and follow thô with little comfort you in the new Maze you lead me into CHAP. XXX Catholic Faith delivered by Men Divinely Inspired Rules to know true Tradition Faith never changed G. B. p. 116. THE first Character of our Faith is that it was delivered to the World by Men sent of God and Divinely Inspired who proved their Mission by Miracles Answ All Divine Faith is built on the Veracity of God the Men who delivered it at first were but the
Gospel who withheld nothing of the Counsel of God from the People Answ Those words are taken out of that Speech of S. Paul to the Elders of the Church of lesser Asia Act. 20.27 which you by a gross Mistake say were the People as if the Holy Ghost had made the People Bishops to Govern the Church of God. Now if the People Govern who are Governed You are hard put to it to find Reasons against us when you are forced to such wretched Shifts Know then which I wonder any one who reads with attention that place can be ignorant of that those to whom S. Paul spake there were Bishops to whom by reason of their Office a larger measure of Faith was due to them the whole counsel of God was made known to be communicated to others not promiscuously to all but to faithful men who might be able to teach others 2 Tim. 2.2 Now thô according to the Practice of the Apostles the People amongst us are not made Teachers Pastors Prophets and Apostles yet all even to the meanest Artisan have Instructions necessary to Salvation What they are bound to believe what they are to hope for and what to doe And what need of more If any amongst us will undergo the labor of Studies the greatest Mysteries of our Faith are obvious to him Our Scriptures our Councils our Decretals our Fathers our Ecclesiastical and Prophane Histories our Divines and our Philosophers are extant in our Stationers Shops as well for the use of the meanest Christian as of the Pope Cardinals or Bishops What is then concealed from them which may ground your Accusation Our Procedure in this is so connatural that I am persuaded it cannot but be your own Practice The English Church hath drawn to some few Heads those Points of Faith which she thinks necessary to Salvation and delivers them to all in her Catechism As for the others contained either in the Bible or in the Nicene and Athanasian Creeds or in the four first General Councils she leaves it to her Children to seek them out themselves if they have will and convenience or to receive them from their Ministers and I do not see how any Governors of a Church can proceed otherwise Dare you blame this in your Mother Church Why then should you condemn us for it G. B. pag. 133. Matters of Interest are the constant Subject of their Studies and Sermons whereas others of the greatest Laws of God are seldom minded Answ If you could write this Untruth without blushing you have no Blood in your Body To confute you it will be enough to open any one Book of Devotion and hear or read a Sermon In malâ causâ non possunt aliter August Your Cause must be very bad which requires such Untruths to uphold it and ours very good seeing you have no Truth to alledge against it CHAP. XXXIII Faith not dependant on Senses G. B. p. 133. GOD hath fitted Faith and framed our Souls so harmoniously that they are congenial one to another Answ I find you in this Point very much to seek how to own a great Truth and yet to establish a contrary Falshood which is very dear to your whole Party That Faith is above Natural Reason and much more above Sense is unquestionable This you own and so place Faith on a Throne Yet something must be had against Transubstantiation and nothing occurs but from Sense Then you pull down Faith and set up Sense in her place Tantae molis erat sanctum subvertere dogma The Mysteries about God and Christ say you are exalted above the reach of our Faculties But Reason it self teacheth that it must be so Here Faith is above Reason But afterwards pag. 134. Our Faith rests on the Evidences our Senses give Here Faith does Homage to Sense Faith is an argument of things which appear not Heb. 11.1 So that it relies not on Senses for its Object doth not appear nor on Reason otherwise it would be Science if the Reason be evident or Opinion if it be uncertain So it relies only on God's Veracity which consists of two Qualities One that He cannot be deceived being Omniscient The other that he cannot deceive being Good. Neither is possible to God for to be deceived is an Error in the Understanding and to deceive argues Malice in the Will. So the Assurance we have by Faith is greater than that of our Senses which may be baffled greater than that of Reason which sometimes is mistaken in its Principles oftner deceived in its Deductions from them Thus God is true Rom. 3.4 and every man a lyar which later part imports a possibility of Error in our clearest Operations whether of Sense or of Reason To say that Faith rests on the Evidence of Senses as you do p. 134. is so contrary to the nature of Faith that both Divines and Philosophers doubt whether the same Object can * S. Thom. 2.2 q. 1. art 4. 5. be seen and believed and generally speaking deny the possibility of it And to what our Blessed Saviour said Because thou hast seen me thou hast believed Joh. 20.29 They answer with S. Gregory Aliud vidit aliud credidit He saw a Man and believed him to be God. To what purpose then are Miracles if Faith doth not rely on them Ans To dispose our Understanding to receive with attention and submission the Word of God by shewing it was God who spoke And when Christ appeals to his Works If I do not the Works of my Father do not believe me but if I do them if you will not believe me believe the Works Joh. 10.38 he assigns only the outward Motive of Belief by which his Hearers were either drawn to Believe or made inexcusable if they persisted in their Incredulity Now it is the grossest Error imaginable to think that Faith rests on all those things which dispose to it otherwise it would rest on the skill in Tongues which is necessary to understand the original Scriptures Item on the Masters who Teach them on the Stationer who Prints them c. But what if the Man who confirms his Mission by evident Miracles teach things contrary to Sense or Reason Ans Our Duty is to silence both these and hearken to him The Arms of our warfare are not carnal but mighty through God to the pulling down of strong holds casting down imaginations and every high thing that exalts it self against the knowledge of God and bringing into captivity every thought 2 Cor. 10. Who says every thought comprehended both those grounded on Sense and others more Speculative But to say as you do that Reason must be subject to Faith but not Senses is very preposterously to put Reason the Mistress under Faith and Sense the Servant above it You declaim against Catholics for acknowledging in the whole Church an Authority in order to the Word of God much less than that which you give to the Senses of every particular Man. What an occasion
the Novatians unreasonable who preached Penance and denied the Fruit of it lib. 1. de Poenit. c. 16. Frustra dicitis vos praedicare Poenitentiam qui tollitis c. And lib. 2. cap. 3. Merendi gratia Sacramenti ad precandum impellimur hoc auferre vultis propter quod agitur Poenitentia Tolle gubernatori perveniendi spem in mediis fluctibus incertus errabit Tolle luctatori coronam lentus jacebit in stadio Tolle piscatori capiendi efficaciam desinet jactare retia In hopes of arriving at his Haven the Pilot steers his Ship The Wrestler strives in hope to throw his Adversary The Fisher casts his Nets in hope of catching some Fish All these would relent were they persuaded the thing they aimed at were impossible How then do you expect that Men should practise good Works when you teach them to hope for no good from them It were indeed to be wished that Men would serve God for God without regarding any Reward But that is a Perfection all do not arrive to and even the best are fain to use some other Motives A Fifth Your Clergy is utterly unfit to Direct and Instruct such Houses our Works have a greater influence on our Neighbors than our Words S. Jerom thought it incongruous that a Man with a full Belly should Preach Fasting And how can a Man Preach Chastity to others who comes himself from the Embraces of his Wife if he hath one or hath his Head full of Amourettes and Designs to get one if he be a Batchelor It is in vain therefore that you seek the advantage of those withdrawing Places from the noise and trouble of the World to those devout Solitudes your Lives are not fit for them your Doctrin is inconsistent with them and your past Actions have shut that Door of Mercy unto you As for Books of Devotion the Author of the Fiat Lux says you have Printed several such composed by ours under your own Names So you hang us and cherish our Writings as the Jews stoned the Prophets and canonized their Books You own we have many excellent Books all the World sees you have scarce any nor can rationally hope for any For he who writes a Spiritual Book ought to aim at two things The First to instruct the Understanding with Divine and Eternal Truths The Second to move the Will to a Hatred of Sin a Contempt of the World and to the Love of God above all things The first may be an Effect of Study but the second cannot be attained unto unless the Author be such himself He must as S. John be A burning and shining Light Joh. 5.35 Burn to God by a true and unfeigned Love of him Shine to Men by the clear Truths which he delivers He must feel within himself those Motions which he endeavors to communicate to his Reader Si vīs me flere dolendum est primum ipsi tibi A Soul possessed with Hope with Fear with Joy with Grief with Love with Hatred in fine with any Passion doth express not only the Thoughts but the Passion it self with Tropes proper by which means it not only informs the Understanding but also stirs the Will of the Hearer or Reader to like Inclinations Read Seneca's Epistles or other Moral Works or Cicero's you shall find a great many excellent Truths yet I never knew any Man the better in his Morality for them As they themselves notwithstanding those Lights were far from being Good Men as you may see in Lactantius lib. 3. Divin Instit from Chap. 13. On the contrary the reading of Saints Works hath a great force to move us to Good. S. Austin l. 8. Confess c. 6. says some were Converted by reading the Life of S. Antony Several have taken serious Resolutions of leading a Christian Life by reading those Confessions And I have known several moved to love Mental Prayer by reading S. Teresa's Works and to the Love of God by using those of S. Francis de Sales This is a great defect in all our Protestant Writers I will instance in two who seem each in his kind to overtop his Confreres quantum lenta solent inter viburna Cupressi The one Bishop Andrews who by Divisions and Subdivisions instructs well only sometimes verborum minutiis rerum pondera frangit The other is the Author of The whole Duty of Man who hath many excellent Truths and very practical as well as the first yet seem not to move the Will because of their cold way of treating their Doctrins They shine but they do not Burn. This Heat is not to be attained unto but by Prayer Which enflames our Heart with the Love of God In meditatione meâ exardescet ignis Psal 38.4 It is this Love which unites us to God and this Union makes us capable of doing great things For an Instrument must be in the Hand of the Workman to do compleatly what is intended if it be distant from him and not held but by a small Thred the Work will be difficult and imperfect if there can be any We are all the Instruments of God in order to all good Works especially in writing Spiritual Books in which if there be any thing good it must come from God the Fountain of all Good. The Apostles after the Ascension expecting the coming of the Holy Ghost Act. 1.14 continued with one accord in Prayer S. John Baptist althô sanctified in his Mothers Womb and designed for the Office of Praecursor and by consequence fitted from above for that Office yet he was in the Desert till the days of his shewing unto Israel Luc. 1.80 sequestring himself from the company of Men and conversing only with God and his Angels the far greatest part of his Life And the Word Incarnate not for any need of his own but to give us Example passed Forty days in Fasting and Prayer in a Desert before he began to Preach Mat. 4.2 And when he had begun he passed the Days with Men and the Nights in Prayer with his Heavenly Father Luc. 6.12 Erat pernoctans in oratione Dei. Species tibi datur forma tibi praescribitur quam debeas amulari says S. Ambr. l. 6. in Luc. This was the Practice of S. Greg. Naz. S. Basil S. Chrysostom And in later Times Ignatius de Loyola before he began the Society past a Retreat in a Cave at Manresa God alone is in peculiar manner the Father of Lights all is darkness but what is received from him The greatest Spiritualists that ever held a Pen even the Writers of Scripture at the same time they taught us received their Lesson from the Holy Ghost And first the Ears of their Heart were open to hear what God spoke to them Psal 84.9 Then they opened their Mouth to speak out of the abundance of their Heart to us Mat. 12.34 Now what Years what Months what Weeks or at least Days do you of the Ministry pass in Solitude in Prayer I find little footsteps of it in any