ground your adversaries without errour and the Church without Heresie And this Father is the end I aim'd at which I thought so considerable in regard of Religion that I cannot easily apprehend how those whom you have given so much occasion to speak can still be silent Though they were not moved at the injuries you do them in particular yet those the Church endures should methinks engage them to some resentment thereof besides the question I make whether Ecclesiasticks may expose their reputation to calumny especially in matters of faith And yet they give you leave to say what you please insomuch that were it not for the occasion you have accidentally given me to say something it may be there had been no opposition made to those scandalous suggestions you so liberally scatter up and down So that I am astonish'd at their patience and that so much the more by reason I am confident it cannot proceed either from weakness or want of courage as knowing they cannot be unfurnish'd either with reasons for their own vindication or zeal for the truth And yet I find them so religiously silent that I fear me they are guilty of some excess as to that point For my part Father I thought it matter of duty to do what I have Disturb not the peace of the Church and I shall be tender of yours But while you make it your business to put all things into tumult and distraction the children of peace must needs be oblig'd to do all that lies in their power to have the peace kept therein March 24. 1657. S. N. The French Author having not by reason of the violent prosecutions of the JESUITS the liberty to print his Letters as he pleased was forced to send the XVII to OSNABRUK an obscure place in Germany where things are commonly ill Printed Being done there in a very small character it occasioned the ensuing Post-script Reverend Father IF you are troubled to read this Letter as being not in an handsome full character you have none to quarrel at but your self I cannot get priviledges as you can You have such whereby you oppose even MIRACLES I have not whereby to vindicate my self The printing houses are perpetually haunted Would you not advise me your self to forbear writing any more to you amidst these extremities For it is too great a distraction to be reduced to the impression of OSNABRUK In the Post-script to the XVII Letter is this expression you have priviledges to oppose MIRACLES meaning the Jesuits The Author alludes to a Miracle wrought the last year at Port-Royal upon a young Gentlewoman It was attested to be such by divers Physicians and others and yet the Jesuits would never acknowledge it to be any but writ against it with all the bitterness that could be the more to discredit it because done at that place ERRATA PAg 42. l. 23. r. met p. 48. l. 13. r. grounded p. 52. l. 6. r. as p. 62. l. 15. r. away with these p. 79. l. 25. r. dis-circumspection p. 82. l. 4. r. Directors p. 84. l. 7. r. by p. 86. l. 4. r. were as p. 105. l. 16. r. whether ib. l. 17. r. superfluity p 112. l. 14. r. probable ib. l. 25. r. persons p. 113. l. 1. r. to p. 114. l. 5. r. dispose p. 125. l. 22. r. when there p. 140. l. 4. r. et p. 142. l. 5. r. Tannerus p. 162. l. 19. r. that p. 166. l. 13. r. title p. 167. l. 16. r. was p. 168. l. 24. r. rather then p. 173. l. 3. r. even p. 188. r. over p. 191. l. 8. r. resolutions p. 200. l ult r. being p. 212. l. 17. r. change p. 228. l. 11. r. truly p. 237. l. 17. r. is not p. 256. l. 22. r. passages p. 285. l. 4. r. we p. 302. l. 24. r. may p. 304. l. 28. r. this p. 305. l. 4. dele and. p. 306. l. 19. r. probable p. 308. l. 13. r. one p. 318. l. 10. r. for p. 324. l. 11. r. must p. 364. l. 6. r. probable p. 379. l. 6. r. these p. 381. l. 19. r. it not p. 390. l. 22. r. hasty p. 398. l. 27. r. is p. 402. l. 7. r. it is p. 418. l. 14. r. fleshly p. 422. l. 27. r. impostures p. 423. l. 24. r. so as p. 433. l. 9. r. parishes p. 439. l. 20. r. is it not p 440. l. 16. r. at p. 449. l. 7. r. efficacious grace p. 473. l. 21. r. dis-acknowledge p. 475. l. 1. r. to clear p. 469. r. 1657. p. 489. l. 9. r. at mens THE END A CATALOGUE of some books Printed for Richard Royston at the Angel in Ivie-lane London I. Books written by H. Hammond D. D. A Paraphrase and Annotations upon all the Books of the New Test by H. Hammond D. D. in fol. 2. The Practical Catechisme with all other English Treatises of H. Hammond D. D. in two volumes in 4. 3. Dissertationes quatuor quibus Episcopatûs Jura ex S. Scripturis Primaeva Antiquitate adstruuntur contra sententiam D. Blondelii aliorum Authore Henrico Hammond D D. in 4. 4. A Letter of Resolution of six Queries in 12. 5. Of Schisme A Defence of the Church of England against the Exceptions of the Romanists in 12. 6. Of Fundamentals in a notion referring to practice by H. Hammond D. D. in 12. 7. Paraenesis or seasonable exhortatory to all true sons of the Church of England in 12. 8. A Collection of several Replies and Vindications Published of late most of them in defence of the Church of England by H. Hammond D. D. Now put together in three Volumes Newly published in 4. 9. A Review of the Paraphrase and Annotations on all the Books of the New Testament with some Additions and alterations by H. Hammond D. D. in 8. II. Books and Sermons written by Jer. Taylor D. D. viz 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 A Course of Sermons for all the Sundayes of the Year together with a Discourse of the Divine â—nstitution Necessity Sacredness and Separation of the Office Ministeal in fol. 2. The History of the Life and Death of the Ever-blessed Jesus Christ second Edition in fol. 3. The Rule and Exercises of holy living in 12. 4. The rule and Exercises of holy dying in 12. 5. The Golden Grove or A Manual of daily Prayers fitted to the dayes of the week together with a short Method of Peace and Holiness in 12. 6. The Doctrine and Practice of Repentance rescued from Popular Errours in a large 8. Newly published 7. A Collection of Polemical and Moral Discourses in fol. Newly published 8. A Discourse of the Nature Offices and Measure of Friendship in 12.
hath no ground and is destroy'd by the answers may be made thereto Did you reflect on the imaginations of the people sayes the Doctor you would speak after another rate Their Censure how censurable soever it may be in it self will for a season have its effect and though it be certain there will be so much pains taken to shew its invalidity that it will at last be discovered yet is it withall true that at the beginning it will have as great an influence over the most as if it were the justest in the world For there needs no more then to cry up and down the streets Come buy the Censure against Arnauld Here 's the condemnation of the Jansenists the Jesuites have their will How few are there that will read it How few of those that do read it will understand it How very few will perceive that it answers not the Objections Who do you think will concern himself so much in the business as to undertake to examine it to the bottome whence you may infer how advantagious it will be to such as are adversaries to the Jansenists They are sure by this means to triumph though as they are commonly wont vainly at least for some moneths And that 's very much as the case stands with them by that time they will have bethought them of some other shift to subsist They live but from hand to mouth By these sleights have they kept above water all this time as for instance one while by a Catechisme wherein a child condemns their Adversaries Another by a Procession wherein sufficient grace leads the efficacious in triumph one time by a Comedy wherein the Devils carry away Jansenius another by an Almanack and now by this Censure In troth said I to him I had erewhile much to object against this procedure of the Molinists but having heard what you say I admire their prudence and their policy I now see they could not have done any thing more judiciously or more securely You apprehend it right said he their surest way hath ever been to be silent which haply gave a great Divine occasion to say That the most able among them are those who plot much speak little and write nothing ' I was by the suggestion of this spirit that in the very beginning of the Assemblies they had prudently ordered that if Monsieur Arnauld came into Sorbonne it should be simply to discover what he believ'd not to engage in dispute with any one The examiners not strictly observing this method were a little at a loss whence hâ—ply it came they were so sharply refuted by the second Apologetick From the same Spirit have they deriv'd that rare and wholly new invention of the half-hour and the sand They have by that means prevented the importunity of those tedious Doctors who thought it a certain pleasure to refute their reasons to produce the books so to convince them of falshood to press them to answer and to reduce them to such a non-plus that they had nothing to answer Not but that they well saw that this want of freedome which had oblig'd so many Doctors to refrain the Assemblies must neâ—ds derogate from the Censure and that the act of Monsieur Arnauld would be an ill prologue to usher in a favourable reception of it Nay they are satisfied that those who are not persons to be begg'd will give as great weight to the judgment of 70. Doctors who could not expect to get any thing by defending Monsieur Arnauld then to that of an hundred others who could lose nothing by condemning him But all consider'd they thought it no small advantage to have a Censure out though it were but of a part of Sorbonne and not of the whole body though it were pass'd with little or no freedome and procur'd by little shifts and those not the most regular though it explain nothing of what might be in controversie though it express not wherein this heresie consists and that there is little said in it for fear of mistake Nay this silence is a mysterie to the simple and the Censure will have this singular advantage thereby that the greatest Criticks and subtilest Divines cannot find any insufficient reason in it You may therefore clear up your thoughts of all fear of being an Heretick for admitting and adhering to the condemn'd proposition it is not dangerous any where but in Monsieur Arnaulds second Letter If you will not take my word take Monsieur le Moines the most violent of the Examiners who to a Doctor of my acquaintance asking him wherein the difference in question consisted and whether it were any longer lawful to say what the Fathers said made this reply This proposition were Catholick in any other mouth 'T is onely in that of Monsieur Arnauld that Sorbonne hath condemn'd it Whence admire the stratagems of Molinisme whereby are wrought such strange hurly-burlies in the Church That what was sound and Catholick in the Fathers becomes heretical in Monsieur Arnauld that what was heretical in the Semipelagians proves orthodox in the writings of the Jesuits that the so ancient Doctrine of Saint Augustine is insupportable Novelty and that the new Inventions which are hatch'd every day even before our eyes pass current for the ancient Faith of the Church Upon this he took leave of me This instruction hath restor'd me to my sight I learn by it that this heresie is of a new kind they are not the opinions of Monsieur Arnauld that are heretical 't is onely his person 'T is a personal Heresie He 's not an Heretick for any thing he hath either said or written but onely because he is Monsieur Arnauld This is all can be objected against him Let him do what he will he shall never be otherwise till he cease to be at all The Grace neld by Saint Augustine shall never be the true grace while Monsieur Arnauld maintains it It would haply be such did he but once oppose it It were the surest way haply the onely means to establish that and destroy Molinisme so much misfortune do the opinions he embraces derive from him But let us have nothing to do with their differences they are the disputes of Divines and not of Divinity We who are no Doctors need not trouble our thoughts with their Controversies Communicate the news of the Censure to all our friends and afford me your affection so far as you conceive me Sir Paris Feb. 9. 1656. Your most humble and most dutiful Servant E.A.A.B.P.A.F.D.E.P. To the same LETTER IV. Sir INcomparable men these Jesuits I have seen Dominicans Doctors nay persons of most qualities I wanted onely this visit to make me compleat For I see other men are but their Copies and things are ever most noble in their Originals I had the happiness to meet with one of the most eminent among them having no other company then that of my faithful Jansenist who was with me at the Dominicans Being extremely desirous to be
better inform'd about the difference there is between them and the Jansenists concerning what they call actual grace I addressed my self to the good Father desiring him to afford me some little instruction and explaine that terme whereof I told him I knew not the meaning With all my heart reply'd he I have a particular affection for the curious Take the definition of it By actual grace we mean an inspiration of God whereby he discovers his will unto us and stirs up in us a desire to accomplish it And what controversie said I doth this breed between you and the Jansenists This reply'd he that we would have God bestow actuall graces on all men in every particular temptation for we hold that if a man have not in every temptation that actual grace to restrain him from sinning what sin soever he may commit cannot be imputed to him On the contrary the Jansenists affirm that sins committed without this presence of actual grace are nevertheless imputable But they are a sort of pittiful souls I guess'd at what he would say yet to clear it a little more fully Father said I to him this terme of actual grace I know not how to digest it 's a meat I am not us'd to would you but do me the favour to tell me the same thing without using that terme I should think it a great obligation To do that said the Father I am onely to put the definition instead of the definitum that alters not the sense of the discourse with all my heart We hold then as an undeniable principle That an action cannot be imputed as sin if God before it be committed give us not a knowledge of the evil of it and an inspiration exciting us to avoid it Have I now express'd my self home I was not a little astonish'd at the discourse which granted all sins of surprise and all committed out of a pure oblivion of God are not to be imputed whereupon turning to my Jansenist I knew by his countenance what little credit he gave it But he continuing silent Father said I I wish what you say were true and that you could make it good How said he you would have it prov'd you shall be satisfied be that upon my account Upon that he went for his Books while I and my friend fell into discourse Did ever mâ—n talk thus said I Is this such news to you reply'd he Assure your self that neither Fathers nor Popes nor Councils nor the Scâ—iptures nor any books of Devotion even in these last times ever spoke after this rate but indeed for Casuists and new Schoolmen he can easily furnish you But such reply'd I if they clash ever so little with Tradition I can as easily laugh at You are in the right said he to me at which word in comes the Father loaden with books and presenting me with the first came to his hand There said he read Father Bauny's Summary of sins 't is the fifth Edition whence you may infer the goodness of the Book 'T is pitty said my Jansenist to me whispering that this should be condemn'd at Rome and by the Bâ—shops of France Turn said the Father to pag. 906. I did and found these words For a man to sin and stand guilty in the sight of God he must know that the thing he is about to do is naught or at least doubt fear or imagine that God takes no pleasure in the action wherein he is employ'd that he forbids it and all this notwithstanding to do it to break through the hedge and exceed his bounds A very good beginning said I to him But note by the way what Envy is reply'd he This very passage gave Monsieur Haillor occasion before he became one of us to abuse Father Bauny applying to him these words Ecce qui tollit peccata mundi Behold him that takes away the sins of the world It is said I a new kind of redemption this of Father Bauny's But would you have a more authentick proof continu'd he take this book of Father Annats This is the last of his writing against Monsieur Arnauld turn to pag. 34. where the leaf is turn'd down and read the lines I have mark'd with black lead they are golden ones There I found these words He who hath not any thought of God nor yet of his own sins nor any apprehension that is as he explain'd it any knowledge of the obligation lies upon him to exercise acts of the love of God or of contrition hath no actual grace to exercise those acts but it must be also acknowledg'd that he is not guilty of any sin if he omit them and that if he be damn'd it will not be for any thing relating to that omission And some few lines lower And the same thing may be affirm'd of sins of commission See now sayes the Father how he speaks of the sins of Omission and Commission he forgets nothing what say you to it I am extremely well satisfied reply'd I what excellent consequences may be deduced from it I am already over head and ears in them O what what mysteries am I rapt into I see a far greater number justified by this ignorance and forgetfulness of God then by Grace and the Sacraments But Father does this any more then bring me into a fools paradise Is not this something like that sufficiency which sufficeth not I am extremely afraid of the Distinguo I have been trapann'd there already do you speak sincerely How said the Father a little enflam'd this is no jesting matter here is not any equivocation I am in earnest said I to him but the excess of my desire it should be so puts me into some fear it may not Take then for your better information the writings of Monsieur le Moine who hath taught it openly in Sorbonne He indeed learnt it first from us but he hath unravell'd the business excellently well O what a noble structure hath he made of it He shews that to make an action to be a sin there is a necessity all these things be transacted in the soul Read and weigh every word I read in Latin what you find here in English 1. On the one side God infuses into the soul a certain love which inclines her towards the thing commandâ—d and on the other the rebellious concupiscence presses her to the contrary 2. God inspires her with a knowledge of her weakness 3. God inspires her with a knowledge of the physician that must cure her 4. God inspires her with a desire to be cur'd 5. God instills into her a desire to pray to him and implore his assistance Now if all these things pass not in the soul sayes the Jesuit the action is not properly sin and consequently not imputable as Monsieur le Moine affirmes in the same place and all throughout the discourse Are you not yet satisfied with Authorities But all modern whisper'd my Jansanist 'T is very well said I applying my self to the Father
for it nor be over-particular in putting cases nor repeat too often the same thing in several books How true this is you will finde by this passage out of one of the greatest of our Fathers You may well allow him to be such when he is at this present our Father Provincial 'T is R. F. Cellot in his eighth book of the Hierarch c. 16 § 2. We know sayes he a certain person who carried a considerable summe of monâ—y to make restitution thereof in obedience to the command of his Confessor Calling in by the way at a Book-seller's and asking what news ab oad numquid novi the Book-seller shew'd him a book newly come forth of Moral Divinity The other turning it over carelâ—sly and not minding any thing what he did falls accidentally upon his own Case and there learned that he was not oblig'd to make restitution so that shaking off the burthen of a scrupulous Conscience and still reteining that of his money he return'd with a light heart home again abjectâ scrupuli sarcinâ retento auri pondere levior domum repetiit Now tell me whether it contributes not much to ones advantage to be acquainted with our maximes will you now laugh at them And will you not rather with Father Cellot make this pious reflection upon so fortunate an adventure Occurrences of this nature are in God the d spensations of his providence in the Angel-Guardian the influâ—nce of his conduct and in thâ—se to whom they happen the effect of their predestination God had from all eternity ordained that the golden chain of their salvation should depend on such a particular Author and not on an hundred others who yet deliver the same things because it happens not that they meet with them If such a man had not written such another man had not been sav'd Let us therefore by the bowels of Jesus Christ prevaile with those who quarrel at the multitude of our Authors not to envy others the books which the eternal election of God and bloud of Jesus Christ hâ—th purchased for them What excellent expressions are these whereby this learned man proves so solidly the proposition he had advanc'd viz. How beneficial it is that a many several Authors write upon the subject of Moral Divinity Quà m utile sit de Theologia Morali multos scribere Father said I for my own sentiment upon this passage I shall refer it to another time and shall say no more at present then that since your maximes are so advantagious and that it is so much requisite they should be publish'd you ought to continue your Lectures therein For I assure you the pâ—rson I send them to communicates them to a many others Not that we have any design to make advantage thereof but that we are really satisfied the world will think it self much oblig'd by a faithful account of them That it may sayes he you see I conceal them not and therefore in pursuance of your design I shall at our next meeting entertaine you with those conveniences and accommodations of life which our Fathers allow to make salvation more feasible and the business of the devotion more easie so that having already gone through what relates to several particular conditions you may learn what provision is made in general for all and consequently that there may nothing be wanting to your perfect instruction Paris May 28. 1656. I ever forget to acquaint you that there are Escobars of several Editions If you buy any take those of Lyons which in the frontispiece have the figure of a Lamb laid over a book sealed with seven seals or if you will those of Brussels printed in the year 1651. These being the last that are come abroad are better and larger then those of the former Editions of Lyons in the years 1644. 1646. I am c. To the same LETTER IX Sir I Shall be as frugal of my Complements to you now as the good Father was to me the last time I saw him He had no sooner ey'd me but he comes towards me and looking into a book he had in his hand broke forth with these words Would not he put an extraordinary obligation on you that should open Paradise to you Would you not give millions of gold to have a key to it and so get in when you pleas'd your self There 's no necessity of being at so great charge hâ—re's one nay an hundred at a far easier rate I was in some doubt whether the good Father read or spoke of himself but he soon put me out of it saying These are the first words of an excellent book of Father Barry's of our Society for I never say any thing of my self What book is it Father said I See the title of it said he Paradise open'd to the lovers of Holiness by an hundred devotions to the Mother of God easie to be practised How Father said I any one of thâ—se easie Devotions is enough to open Heaven It is so said he take it further affirm'd in the sequel of the words you have heard As many Devotions to the Mother of God as you find in this book so many celestial keyes are there to set open the gates of Paradise to you if so be you practise them and therefore he sayes at last that he is satisfied if a man practise but one of them I would gladly know some of the easiest Father said I. They are all such reply'd he for instance To salute the blessed Virgin when ever you meet with any Image of hers to say over ten Ave-Maries for the ten pleasures of the Virgin often to pronounce the name of Mary to give Commission to the Angels to do her reverence as from us to wish ones self able to build her more churches then all Kings and Princes have put together to bid her good morrow every morning and good night every evening to say every day on Ave-Mary in honour of the heart of Mary Nay he affirmes this last Devotion to be so effectual that the practiser thereof may assure himself of the Virgin 's heart It may be Father said I but certainly with this proviso that he present her with his There 's no necessity of that said he specially when a man is too much taken up with the things of this world take his own words Heart for heart were indeed but what ought to be but yours haply is too much taken up with the world and is ever filled with the creature For which reason I dare not invite you immediately to offer up that little slave which you call your heart And so he is satisfied with the Ave-Mary he at first desired These are the Devotions of pag. 33. 59. 145. 156. 172. 258. and 420. of the first Edition This is an extraordinary convenience said I such as I conceive there will not any be damn'd hereafter Alas alas sayes the Father I perceive you know not how far the hardness of heart of some people may extend There
are those in the world who would never be oblig'd to say every day these two words good morrow good night as being a thing cannot be done without some application of the memory So that Father Barry hath been forc'd to furnish them with exercises of much more ease as to have alwayes a pair of Beads about the armes after the manner of a Bracelet or to have a Rosary about them or some picture of the Virgin These are the Devotions of pag. 14. 326. and 447. And then tell me whether I have not furnish'd you with Devotions easie enough to obtain the favour of Mary as Father Baâ—ry sayes pag. 106. This Father said I is certainly easiness in extrâ—mity 'T is indeed said he as much as possibly could be done and I think will serve the turn For that were a wretched Christian indeed who would not set aside one moment in all his life to put a pair of Beads about his arme or a Rosary in his pocket and by that means secure his salvation And that it so infallibly does that those who have made trial thereof have never been disappointed after what manner soever they have liv'd though we still exhort people to good life Of this I shall give you no other instance then what is in pag 34. of a woman who practising daily the devotions of saluting the images of the Blessed Virgin liv'd nevertheless all her life in mortal sin at last dyes in that condition and yet was sav'd by the merit of that devotion How could that possibly be cry'd I thus said he our Saviour rais'd her again for that very purpose So certain is it that a man cannot miscarry if he practise any of these devotions I must confess Father said I that the Devotions done to the Virgin are a powerfull means conducing much to salvation and that the least among them are of great merit when they are the effects of Faith and charity such as they were in the Saints that practis'd them but to think to perswade those who use them without any change of their ill lives that they shall be converted at the hour of death or that God shall raise them againe is a proceeding in my judgment fitter to encourage sinners in their evil courses by the treacherous peace which this rash confidence brings with it then to recall them by a true real conversion which is the work of Grace onely What matters it sayes the Father how we get into Paradise so we can but once get in as upon some such occasion sayes the famous Father Binet sometime our Provincial in his excellent book Of the mark of Predestination n. 31. p. 130. of the fifteenth Edition By hook or by crook it matters it not whether so we can but gain the city of glory as the same Father sayes in the same place It matters not indeed I must confess said I but the question is whether a man shall get in The Virgin said he is your security for that You have it in the close of Father Barry's book If it happen that at the hour of death the enemy of mankind should pretend some interest in you and that it might occasion some disturbance in the little Republick of your resolution you have no more to say then that Mary is responsible for you and that it is to her that he must apply himself But Father said I if a man would press this further you would be at a little loss For in one word who hath assured us that the Virgin will be responsible Father Barry sayes he is engag'd for her pag. 465. As for the happiness and advantage you shall receive thereby I will be responsible to you and pass my word for that good Mother But Father said I who shall be engag'd for Father Barry How sayes the Father he is one of us and are you yet to learn that our Society is responsible for all the books of our Fathers This is a thing worthy your knowledge There is then a certain order in our Society containing a prohibition to all Book-sellers to print any work of our Fathers without the approbation of the Divines of our Society and the permission of our Superiours It is an Order made by Henry III. dated May 10. 1583. and confirm'd by Henry IV. December 20. 1603. and by Lewis XIII February â—4 1612. So that our whole body is responsible for the books of any one of our Fathers This is a particular priviledge of our Society And thence it comes to pass that there comes not any work of ours aâ—road which proceeds not from the spirit of the Society Thus much it was very fit you knew I look on it Father said I as a great obligation and all I am troubled at is that I knew it not sooner For this knowledge engages a man to be much more attentive to your Authors I should have done it before said he had but the least occasion offered it self but make the best advantage you can of it for the future and let us go on with our discourse I conceive said he I have furnish'd you with wayes how a man may secure his salvation sufficient as to easiness certainty and number yet our Fathers wish men would not satisfie themselves with this first degree wherein a man does no more then what is precisely necessary in order to future happiness For as it is their main design to promote as much as may be the glory of God so do they think nothing contributes so much thereto as to encourage man-kind to greater piety And wheras the children of this world are the more diverted from Devotion by the strange representation is made of it our Fathers have thought it a thing of extraordinary consequence absolutely to take away that fundamental obstacle This is it that Father le Moine hath got abundance of reputation for in his book of EASIE DEVOTION which he writ meerly to that purpose There he gives us a most excellent representation of Devotion for indeed no man ever understood it so well as he did You have it in the first words of that Treatise Virtue never yet appear'd to any never was there any portraiture made thereof that was like her It is not at all to be admir'd that so few have endeavoured to climb up her rock They have made her so ill company as to affect nothing so much as solitude They have appointed for her attendants grief and labour in a word they have made her the greatest enemy of divertisement and recreation wherein consist the onely comfort and enjoyment of humane life This he says page 92. But Father said I this I am certain of that there are very eminent Saints whose lives have been extremely austere 'T is very true said he but there have been withall some Polite Saints and Courtier-like Puritans according to the same Father pag. 191. And you will find pag. 86. that the difference of their manners proceeds from that of their humours Hear
Augustine preserve charity in his heart even when he is oblig'd to do outwardly things that to men seeme very harsh and to smite them with a rough but obliging severity their advantage being to be preferr'd before their satisfaction I am perswaded Fathers that my LETTERS contain not any thing whence it might be inferr'd that I have not had that desire for you and consequently that Charity obliges you to believe that I really had it when you can find nothing in them to the contrary It is therefore evident that you cannot make it appear I have offended either against this rule or indeed against any one of those that charity obligeth us to observe and therefore you had no reason to aver that I had made a breach thereof in what I have done But Fathers since you will needs be pleased in few words to observe a carriage offending against all these rules and that hath the right mark of Sycophancy envy and uncharitablenesse I will give you instances thereof And that they may be such as are well known to you I shall take them out of your own writings To begin then with the unworthy manner wherein your Authors speak of things sacred whether it be in their ralleries their Gallanteries or their serious and grave discourses do you think that so many ridiculous stories of your Father Binâ—t in his Consolation of the sick are any way pertinent to the design he had taken Christianly to comfort those whom God afflicts Will you affirme that that profane and superficiall way wherein your Father le Moine hath treated of piety in his easy Devotion is more likely to beget respect then contempt for the Idea he would forme of Christian vertue His whole book of Morall Representation does it breath any thing else as well in the prose as verse but a spirit full of vanity and the fooleries of the world Is that a piece beseeming a Priest that ode of the seventh book entituled The elogie of chastity where it is shewn that all handsome things are red or subject to be red This he writ to comfort a certain Lady whom he calls Delphina upon her frequent blushing In every stanza he takes occasion to say that some of those things that are most esteemed are red as Roses Pomgranatâ—s the mouth the tongue and among these Galanteries infamous in a religious man does he insolently presume to bring in those blessed spirits which are alwayes in the presence of God and whereof Christians ought not to speak but with veneration The Cherubims above the skies Of head and feathers onely fram'd Who by Gods spirit are inflam'd Inlightned by his radiant eyes These glorious flying faces spread A beauty ever glowing-red Or with their own or with Gods fire And mid'st these mutuall fervours they Move their wings gently to allay And fan the ardor they acquire But rednesse is in thee display'd Delphina with far greater grace For honour dwells upon thy face In purple like a King array'd c. What think you of it Fathers This preference of the rednesse of Delphina before the ardor of those spirits who have no other then that of charity and the comparison of a fanne to those mysterious wings do you think them very Christian-like in a mouth that consecrates the adorable body of JESUS CHRIST I know he said it onely to seem a Gallant and in a merry humour but this is that which is called jesting with holy things And is it not true that if he had justice done him he should not escape a censure though to clear himself he alleged that reason which is not it self less censurable produced by him in the first book That the College of Sorbonne hath no jurisdiction over Parnassus and that the errours of that Countrey are not subject to censures or the Inquisition as if a man were forbidden to be a Blasphemer and an Athiest onely in Prose Nor would this other passage of the Preface before the same book stand him in much more stead That the water of the river on whose banks he had written his verses had such a faculty to make Poets that though it were consecrated and made holy-water yet were it not able to chase away the Daemon of Poesie Nor yet that of your Father Garassus in his Summary of the principal verities of Religion pag. 649. where he joynes blasphemy and heresie together speaking of the sacred mysterie of the Incarnation in this manner The humane Personality hath been as it were graffed or set on horse-back upon the personality of the Word Nor this other passage to omit a many others of the same Author pag. 510. where he sayes upon occasion of the name of Jesus commonly figured thus * ✚ IHS That some have taken away the Cross and take the characters alone in this manner IHS which is a JESUS dismounted and despoiled Thus do you unworthily treat of the verities of Religion contrary to the inviolable rule whereby we are oblig'd not to speak of them but with reverence But you no less break that which obliges us not to speak but with truth and discretion What is more obvious in your writings then Calumny Does your Father Brisacier speak truly and sincerely when he sayes 4. part p. 24. and 15. that the Nuns of Port-royal pray not to the Saints and that they have no images in their Church when all Paris can witness the contrary And how implacable is he to the innocence of those Religious Women who live so virtuously and austerely when he calls them Impenitent Virgins asacramentaries in-communicants foolish virgins fantastick Calaganes desperate and what you please and traduces them with so many other calumnies which could do no less then deserve the censure of the late Arch-Bishop of Paris Does he discreetly when he calumniates Priests of unblameable lives so far as to affirme 1. p. pag. 22. That they practice Novelties in Confession to insnare the handsome and the innocent and that it were an horrour to him to relate the abominable crimes they commit Is it not an unsupportable temerity to advance such horrid impostures not onely without proof but without the least pretence or probability I shall dilate no further as to this point and refer the larger discourse I intend you of it to another time for I have somewhat to say to this subject and what I have said is enough to let you see how far you offend against Truth and Discretion together But it will haply be said that you break not the last rule which obliges a man to wish their salvation whom he speaks against and that none can accuse you as to that without searching into the secret of your hearts which are known onely to God himself And yet how strange soever it might seem there is something to prove you guilty even of that For though your uncharitableness towards your Adversaries hath been so great as to wish their eternal destruction yet such hath been withall your blindness
certainly allowable that you make not the least difficulty to declare it publickly and in sight of a whole City Of this there is a remarkable instance in the difference happened between you and Monsieur Puys Pastor of S. Nicier at Lyons and since this story perfectly discovers your spirit I shall the rather insist upon the principal circumstances of it You know Fathers that in the yeare 1649. M. Puys translated into French an excellent book written by another Capuchin Concerning the duty of Christians towards their Parishes against those by whom they are diverted from them without using the least invective or reflecting on any particular Religious man or Order Your Fathers neverthelesse took this as directed to them and forgetting the respect they might have had for an ancient pastor a Judge in the Primacy of France and highly esteemed by the whole City your Father Alby writ a bloody book against him which you sold your selves in your own Church upon Assumption day wherein he charged him with diverse things and among others that he was become scandalous by his galanteries that he lay under the suspicion of impiety of being a Heretick an excommunicated person and in a word deserved to be cast into the fire To this M. Puys answers and father Alby by a second book maintained his former accusations Is it not cleare then Fathers that either you are Calumniators or that you really believed all that to be true of that venerable Priest and consequently that it was but requisite you saw him cleansed of his errors ere you thought him worthy to be received into your Friendship Take then what p ssed at the composure made of this businesse before * Monsieur de Ville Vicar general to the Card of Lyon M. Scarron Canon and Pastor of Saint Paul's Monsieur Margat M.M. Bouand Seve Aubert and Durvie Canons of Saint Nicier M. du Guè President of the Treasurers of France M. Groslier provost of Merchants M. de Flechere President and Lieutenant Generall M.M. de Boisat de Saint Romain and de Bartoly Gent. M. Bourgeois the Kings chief Advocate in the Treasurers Court of France M. de Cotton Father and Son M. Boniel who all signed the Original Declaration with Mounsieur Puys and Father Alby a great number of the most considerable persons of the City whose names we have put at the bottome of the page as they were set to the instrument made hereupon Sept. 25. 1650. In the presence of so many people M. Puys did onely declare That what he had written was not any way directed to the Jesuits that he had spoken in generall against those who cause the faithfull to straggle from their own parishes without any the least thought of medling therein with the Society and that on the contrary he had a very aff ctionate estâ—eme for it These words recovered him out of his Apostacy his scandall and his excommunication without any retraction or absolution Whereupon Father Alby directed these words to him Sir the belief I was in that your quarrell was against the Society whereof I have the honour to be a member obliged me to take pen in hand to answer it and I thought the manner of my proceeding lawfull and justifiable But coming to a better understanding of your Intention I am now to declare to you THAT THERE IS NOT ANY THING that might hinder me from esteeming you a man of a very illuminated judgement of sound Learning and ORTHODOX as to Manners UNBLAMEABLE and in a word a worthy Pastor of your Church This is a Declartion I make with joy and which I entreat these Gentlemen to remember No question but they do remember it Fathers with this into the bargaine that people were more scandalized at the reconciliation then they were at the Difference For who cannot but admire this discourse of Father Alby He does not tell you he hath made any recantation as the effect of any change in the maners and doctrine of M Puys but onely that understandâ—ng his intention not to have been to meddle with your Society there is not any thing hinders but that he may account him a good Catholick He did not therefore really believe him a Heretick And yet after he had contrary to his knowledge charged him with it he doth not acknowledge his default nay on the contrary affirmes that he believes the manner of his proceeding lawfull and allowable What is your design Fathers thus publickly to discover that you measure not mens faith and vertues but according to their intentions toward your Society How could you avoid a feare of being accounted and that by your own acknowledgement Impostors and sycophants How Fathers shall the same man not discovering the least change in point of life but meerly as you believe him satisfyed or dissatisfyed with your Society be pious or impious unblameable or excommunicable a worthy Pastor of the Church or a person fit to be cast into the fire and in a word a Catholick or a Heretick It signifies therefore the same thing in your language to quarrell with your Society and to be a Heretick A very pleasant kind of Heresy Fathers Which granted when we find in your writings so many good Catholicks infamously termed Hereticks it amounts to no more then that you think them too peremptory with you T is well Fathers that we can make a shift to understand this exotick language according to which it is that I am a grand Heretick And it must needs be in this sense that you so often give me the title You have no other reason to cut me off from being a member of the Church then that you think my Letterâ—o prejudice you and so all I have to do to become a Catholick again is either to approve the excesses of your Morality which I cannot do but I must renounce all sentiments of piety or that I perswade you that I have no other design in it then to further your true happinesse which if you should acknowledge it must needs be imagined you were strangely reformed of your extravagances So that I must needs be strangely ensnared in heresy since that the purity of my faith being absolutely unserviceable to help me out of this kind of errour I cannot possibly get out but either I must betray and wound my own Conscience or reforme yours Till then must I be a reprobate and an Imposter and how faithfull soever I may have been in the citations of your passages you will go and cry it up and down that he must be the instrument of the Devil that should charge you with things whereof there are not the least track or hint in your Books and yet there will be nothing in all this but what is conformable to your maximes and ordinary practise of such a vast latitude is the priviledge you take to lye I shall take leave to produce an instance of it that I have purposely culled out because I shall with the same labour answer
there is so little possibility that Christians should ever get out of crimes that are contrary to the Laws of God nature and the Church that it is not so much as to be hoped unless the holy Ghost be mistaken So that in your judgment if those be not absolv'd of whom there 's no hope of amendment the bloud of Jesus Christ will be useless and will never be applyed to any To what precipices fathers does this inordinate desire of keeping up the reputation of your Authors reduce you since you find but two wayes to justifie them Imposture and Impiety and consequently that the more innocent way of vindicating them is confidently to disacknowledge things that are most evident And indeed thence it proceeds that you make use of it so often But this is not yet all that you are able to do You forge writings to cast an odium on your enemies as for instance The Letter from a Minister to Monsieur Arnauld which by your Mercuries you scatter'd up and down all Paris to make people believe that the book of Frequent Communion approv'd by so many Doctors and Bishops but indeed as was a little different from your sentiments had been written by some secret Intelligence with the Ministers of Charenton You sometimes father on your Adversaries writings full of impiety as the Circulatory Letter of the JANSENISTS the impertinence of whose style too plainly discovers the cheat and but too palpably betrayes the ridiculous malice of your Father Meynier who dares quote it as he does pag. 28. to confirme his most unmerciful impostures You sometimes cite books that never were in the world as The Constitutions of the Blessed Sacrament out of which you alledge such passages as are the ideal issues of your own braines and which startle the simple sort of people who are unacquainted with your confidence as well in the inventing as publishing of Lies For there is not any kind of Calumny which you have not put in practice Never could the Maxime that justifies it come into better hands But these haply are too easily refuted and therefore 't is but fit you had some yet more subtile wherein you do not particularize any thing so to cut off all advantage of answering them as when Father Brisacier said that his Enemies commit abominable crimes but that he will not discover them Does it seem something hard to lay open the imposture of so indeterminate a reproch And yet there is one excellent man hath found out the secret of it and 't is a Capuchin too The Capuchins Fathers are very fatal to you at the present and I see a day coming that the Benedictines may be no less This Capuchin is called Father Valerian one of the house of the Counts de Magnis You shall know by this short story how he answer'd your Calumnies God had blessed his endeavours in the conversion of the Landgrave of Darmstadt Your Fathers as if they were troubled to see a Soveraign Prince converted to the faith without their assistance presently write a book against him for you make it your business to persecute the godly every where wherein falsifying one of his passages they impute unto him an heretical doctrine and certainly you were very much to blame for he medled not with your Society They also scatter'd abroad a Letter against him wherein they said O what things is it in our power to discover not mentioning what which would trouble you to the heart For if you take not some course therein we shall be forc'd to acquaint the Pope and Cardinals therewith This indeed speaks subtiltie enough and I doubt not Fathers but you will speak thus of me but observe well how he answers it in his book printed at Prague this last year in the 112. and following pages What shall I do sayes he against these uncertain and indeterminate injuries How shall I discover the falshood of reproches not particularized Thus I le do it I openly and publickly declare to those that threaten me that they are infamous Impostors and most accomplish'd and most impudent Liars if they discover not those crimes to all the world Appear then Accusers and publish those things on the house-top which you have yet onely whisper'd in the ear and whence you have deriv'd the greater confidence to lie There are some who think these disputes scandalous 'T is true it must needs raise an horrid scandal to charge me with a crime nâ— less then heresie and to b ing me under suspicion of being guilty of a many others But for my part I do but â—edress this scandal by clearing my innocence In troth Fathers you are but in a sad condition nor was ever man better vindicated For it must needs be that you had not the least shadow or pretence of any crime against him since you have not accepted of such a challenge You are sometimes extremely put to your shifts and yet you are never the more circumspect For not long after you set upon him afresh upon another occasion and he took the same course to vindicate himself pag. 151. in these termes This kind of men which grows daily more and more insupportable to all Christendome would fain under pretence of good works aspire to greatness and dominion by making contributarie to their ends all Laws divine humane positive and natural They either out of a consideration of their Learning out of fear or out of hope draw all the great ones of the earth after them abusing their authoritie to bring about their detestable intrigues And yet their attempts though criminal in so high a nature neither punish'd nor oppos'd nay on the contrarie they are recompenc'd and they commit them with as much confidence as if they did God great service All the world is sensible of it all speak it with execration but there are few that are able to stand in the gap against so powerful a tyrannie That is it I have endeavoured to do I have put a rub before their impudence and will keep it back in the same manner as I did before I declare therefore that they lie most impudently MENTIRI IMPUDENTISSIME If the things they lay to my charge be true let them be prov'd or let my adversaries stand convicted of a lie full of impudence The proceeding hereupon will discover which side Reason sticks to I desire all the world to observe it and withall to take notice that this kind of men who suffer not the most inconsiderable injurie which they can avoid pretend very patiently to suffer those which they cannot and so with a counterfeit Virtue clothe their real weakness For this reason have I the more earnestly provoked their modestie to the end the more unletter'd may be satisfied that if they hold their peace their patience shall not be thought an effect of the quiet but the disturbance of their Consciences Thus far he Fathers And he concludes thus These men whose Histories are known to all the world are so
declared that they are not separated from the Church as to what relates to that mysterie but onely by reason of the adoration which the Catholicks do to the Eucharist Get all the passages I have cited out of the books of Port-Royall subscribed at Geneva and not onely those passages but the whole treatises written concerning this mysterie as the book of Frequent Communion The Explication of the ceremonies of the Masse The Exercise during Mass Reasons of suspension from the Blessed Sacrament The Hymnes of the Houres of Port-Royal translated c. In a word cause that sacred institution of constantly adoring Jesus Christ enclos'd in the Eucharist to be establish'd at Charenton as it is at Port-Royal and it will be the most considerable service you can do the Church since that then Port-Royal shall not conspire with Geneva but Geneva with Port-Royal and the whole Church You could not certainly Fathers have been more unfortunate in any thing then in charging Port-Royal with not believing the Eucharist but I will discover what it was that engag'd you to do it You know I am a little acquainted with your Politicks you have stretch'd them very hard upon this occasion If Monsieur de Saint Cyran and Monsieur Arnauld had onely deliver'd what was to be believ'd concerning that mysterie and not what men ought to do to be prepar'd for it they had been the best Catholicks in the world and there had been no equivocations found in their termes of reall presence and trans-substantiation But since there is a necessitie that all those who oppose your degenerate principles should be Hereticks nay in that very point wherein they condemn them how could Monsieur Arnauld scape upon the Eucharist when he had writ an express Treatise against your profanations of that Sacrament How Fathers Should he say with hope not to be called to an account That the body of Jesus Christ ought not to be given those who fall often into the same crimes and discover not the least hope of amendment and that they ought to be kept for some time from the Altar that having purified themselves by a sincere repentance they may approch it afterwards to their comfort Do not Fathers by any means suffer such things to be spoken you would not be importun'd by so many people at your Confession-seats For your Father Brisacier sayes that if you follow'd not this method you should not apply the bloud of Jesus Christ to any one 'T were much better for you that men followed the practise of your Societie which your Father Mascarennas cites in a certain book approved by your Doctors nay even by your Reverend Father General and is this That all manner of persons even Priests themselves may receive the body of Jesus Christ the very day wherein they have defiled themselves with abominable sins That men are so far from being guilty of any irreverence in such communions that on the contrary they are to be commended when they frequent them in that manner That the Confessours ought not to divert them and that on the contrary it is their duty to advise those who have but newly committed those crimes to communicate immediately in as much as though the Church hath forbidden it yet that prohibition is abolish'd by the universal practise of the whole earth This it is Fathers to have Jesuits scatter'd over the whole earth This is the universal practise that you have introduc'd and which you endeavour to see establish'd It matters not that the tables of Jesus Christ be fill'd with abomination so your Churches be throng'd with people Be sure then to make the opposers hereof Hereticks upon the Blessed Sacrament it must be so what ever it cost But how will you be able to do it after so many irrefragable testimonies as they have given of their faith Are you not afraid I should quote the four grand proofs you produce of their heresie You might very well Fathers and I know no reason I should spare you so much shame Let us then examine the first Monsieur de Saint Cyran sayes Father Meynier comforting a friend of his upon the death of his Mother Tom. 1. Let. 14. saies that the most acceptable sacrifice that a man can offer to God upon these occasions is that of Patience ergo he is a Calvinist This is very subtilly argued Fathers and it is a question with me whether any one see the reason of this consequence Take it from himself Because saith this great Controvertist he therefore believes not the sacrifice of the Mass for that is it which is the most acceptable to God of any Who now dares say the Jesuits cannot dispute They can do it in such a manner that they are able to make heretical what discourses they please even to the Scripture it self For is it not an heresie to say as the wise man does There is nothing worse then to love money as if Adulteries Murthers and Idolatrie were not greater crimes And who is there almost who does not frequently fall into such expressions and that for instance the sacrifice of a broken and contrite heart is the most acceptable in the sight of God for that in such discourses a man onely makes a comparison between certain interiour virtues among themselves without reflection on the sacrifice of the Mass which is of a different order and of an infinitely higher Nature Is not this to be ridiculous Fathers and must I needs to heighten your confusion acquaint you with the termes of that very Letter where Monsieur de Saint Cyran speaks of the sacrifice of the Mass as of the most excellent of all saying That men offer unto God every day and in all places the sacrifice o the Body of his Son who could not find A MORE EXCELLENT WAY then that whereby to honour his Father And afterwards That Jesus Christ at his death oblig'd us to take of his sacrificed body to make the sacrifice of ours to be the more acceptable to him and that he being also united to us when we die might strengthen us by sanctifying with his presence the last sacrifice we make unto God of our lives and of our bodies Now play the Sycophants take no notice of any thing of all this and confidently affirme that he avoided communicating at his death as you do pag. 33. and that he believ'd not the sacrifice of the Mass For there is nothing too difficult for such as are Detractors by Profession And that you are such your second proof is a great testimony To make late Monsieur de Saint Cyran to whom you attribute the book of Petrus Aurelius a Calvinist you produce a passage wherein Aurelius explaines pag. 89. the carriage of the Church towards such Priests and Bishops as she would depose or degrade The Church saith he not being able to take away the power of the order because the character of it is not to be blotted out she does all she can she puts out of her memory that
character which she cannot out of the souls of those who have received it She considers them as if they were no longer Priests or Bishops So that according to the ordinary language of the Church it may be said they are no longer such though they still are as to what concerns the character ob indelebilitatem characteris You see Fathers that this Author approv'd by three general Assemblies of the Clergie of France saies expresly that the character of Priesthood is indelible and yet you make him say but quite the contrarie in that very place That the character of Priesthood is not indelible This is a transcendent calumnie that is to say according to you a Peccadillo a trifling venial sin For that book had done you some prejudice as having refuted the heresies of your Brethren-Jesuits of England concerning Episcopal Authoritie But certainly it is a signal piece of extravagance and a very high mortal sin against Reason in the first place fasly to suppose that Monsieur de Saint Cyran held that the character might be taken away and to conclude thence that he does not believe the reall presence of Jesus Christ in the Eucharist Do not expect I should make any answer to it Fathers if you have not common sence it is not in my power to give you any All those that have will liberally laugh at both you and your third proof which is grounded upon these words out of the Frequent Communion 3. p. ch 11. That God gives us in the Eucharist THE SAME FOOD as he doth to the Saiâ—tâ— in Heaven without any other difference save that here he allowes us not either the sensible sight or taste of it reserving both till our coming to heaven These words Fathers do so naturally express the sense of the Church that I ever and anon forget what it is that you quarrel at in them so as to pervert them For to me they signifiâ— nothing but what the Council of Trent teaches Sess 13. c. 8. That there is no other difference between Jesus Châ—ist in the Eucharist and Jesus Christ in Heaven but that here he is vail'd and there he is not Monsieur Arnauld doth not say that there is no other difference in the manner of receiving Jesus Christ but onely that â—hâ—â—e is no other in Iesus Christ who is received And yet you would against all reason make him to say by this passage that Christ is eaten with the mouth here no more then he is in heaven whence you conclude his heresie I cannot but pitie you Fathers Does this require any further explication Why do you confound this divine Nourishment with the manner of receiving it There is as I have alreadie said but one onely difference between this nourishment upon earth and in heaven which is that here it is hidden under veils that deprive us of the sensible sight and taste of it But there are many differences between the wayes of receiving it both here and there whereof the principal is as Monsieur Arnauld saies part 3. ch 16. Here Christ enters into the mouth and breast of both the godly and the wicked which he doth not in heaven And since you are ignorant of this diversitie I shall tell you that the cause why God hath established these different waies of receiving the same food is the difference there is between the state of Christians in this life and that of the bâ—â—ssed Saints in heaven The state of Christians as Card nal du Perron saies after the Fathers is a mâ—an state between that of the Blessed and that of the Jews The Blessed poss ss Jesus Christ really without figures and without veils The Jews possessed not Christ but under figures and veiles such as were the Manna and the Paschal Lamb. And the Chr stians possess J sus Christ in the Euchâ—rist truly and really but yet hid under veâ—â—es God saith Saint Eucharius made himself three Tabernacles the Synagogue which had onely the shadows without truth the Church which both the truth and the shadows and heaven where there are no shadows but truth it self We should go out of the state wherein we are which is the state of faith and is by Saint Paul as much opposed to the Law as to the beatifical vision should we possess onely the figures withouâ— J sus Christ because it is the propertie of the Law to have onely the shadow and not the substance of things and we should also go out on the other side should we possess him visibly because faith as the same Apostle sayes is not of the things that are seen Thus is the Eucharist proportioned to our state of Faith because it truly involves Iesus Christ yet veiled So that this state were on the one side destroyed if Iesus Christ were not really under the species of bread and wine as Hereticks pretend he is not and on the other should we receive him nakedly as in heaven since it were to confound our estate either with that of Judaisme or with that of Glory And this Fathers is the divine and mysterious reason of this wholly divine mysterie This is it makes us abhor the Calvinists as reducing us to the condition of the Jews and withall what makes us aspire to the glory of the Blessed wherein we shall have the full and eternal enjoyment of Jesus Christ Whence you see that there are several d fferences between the waies wherein he communicates himself to Christians and to the Blessed and that among others he is received here by the mouth and not so in heaven but that they all depend meerly upon the difference there is between the state of Faith wherein we are and the estate of the beatifical vision wherein they are This it is Fathers that Monsieur Arnauld saies so clearly in these termes That there should be no other difference between the purity of those who receive Jesus Christ in the Eucharist and that of the blessed Saints but as much as there is between Faith and the beatifical vision of God on which alone depend the different manners wherein he is eaten on earth and in heaven You should Fathers have had a reverence for the sacred truths in these words rather then corrupted them to find in them an heresie they are incapable of which is that Jesus Christ is onely eaten by faith and not by the mouth as your Fathers Annat and Meynier maliciously affirme making it the principal head of their accusation You see then Fathers how little you are beholden to proof and therefore you are forc'd to flie to a new artifice which is to falsifie the Councel of Trent so to bring it about that Monsieur Arnauld should not be conformable thereto so many waies are you furnish'd with to make people heretical And this is done by your Father Meynier in no less then fiftie places of his book and eight or ten times in the single pag. 54. where he pretends that for a man to express himself like a true Catholick
answer to my XV. LETTERS it is enough to say 15 times that I am an Heretick and that being declar'd such I do not deserve any credit to be given me So that you make my Ap stasie to be out of all controversie supposing it as an undeniable principle upon which you build so confidently 'T is therefore in good earnest that you treat me as an heretick and it is therefore in as good earnest that I answer you thereto You know Father that a charge of this nature is of such consequence that it is an insupportable temeritie to put it in against any man if it cannot be fully proved I therefore desire you to produce your evidence When was I seen at Charenton When have I neglected coming to Mass and doing those duties which Christians are oblig'd to in their practises When did I any action arguing the least compliance with Hereticks or schisme in the Church What Council have I contradicted What constitution of the Pope have I violated Answer must be made to these questions or you know what I would say And what answer do you make I entreat all the world to observe You suppose in the first place That he who writ the LETTERS hath some relation to Port-Royal Then you assume That Port-Royal hath been declared heretical and thence conclude that he who writ the Letters is declared an Heretick This kind of accusation reflects not on me at all Father but onely on Port Royal and you charge me with it no further then you suppose me to relate to that place So that I shall have no hard task to vindicate my self since I need do no more then tell you that I am not of that place and refer you to my Letters where I have said that I am alone and in express termes that I am not of Port-Royal as I have done in my XVI Letter which came abroad immediately before your book You must then take some other course to prove me an Heretick or you betray your weakness to all the world Prove then by my writings that I submit not to the Constitution I have not written so much there are onely XVI LETTERS to be examined in all which I defie you nay all the world to find the least expression tending to any such thing But I can shew you in them the quite contrary For when I said for instance in the XIV that a man killing accord ng to your Maximes one of his brethren in mortal sin damnes him for whom Jesus Christ died do I not evidently acknowledge that Jesus Christ died for that damned soul and consequently it is false That he died onely for the Predestinate which is that that is condemned in the first Proposition It is therefore clear Fathers that I have not said any thing whence it might be thought I assert those impious propositions which I detest with all my soul And though Port-Royal should maintain them you cannot thence infer any thing against me because I have not I praise God any dependence save that on the holy Catholick Apostolick and Roman Church wherein I am resolved to live and die in communion with the Pope the soveraign head thereof out of which I am perswaded there is no salvation What course can you take with a person that talkes after this rate and which way do you intend to set upon me when neither my discourses nor my writings afford you the least occasion to charge me with heresie and that I find my safetie against your menaces in my own obscuritie You find your selves wounded by an invisible hand which makes your extravagances apparent to all the world And you vainly assault me in the persons of those with whom you imagine me to be in union I fear you not either out of any concernment of my self or any other as having no relation to any Communitie nor to any person whatsoever All the credit you can make amounts to nothing as to what concerns me I hope not any thing from the world nor do I fear any thing from it nor do I desire any of it having the grace and assistance of God I neither want wealth nor any mans Authoritie So that I can elude all your attempts you cannot fasten on me endeavour it which way you please You may have something to say to Port-Royal but nothing to me Many have been turn'd out of Soâ—bonne but all makes me not quit my lodging You may well prepare your violent remedies against Priests and Doctors but not against me who can pretend to no such qualities And so perhaps you never before had to do with a person that stood so much in defiance of your attempts and so fit to engage against your Errours as being free without engagement without dependence without obligation without relation not medling with affairs one sufficiently acquainted with your Maximes and fully resolv'd to put them forward as far as I shall find God encouraging me to do it so that no worldly consideration shall retard or take off the edge of my prosecution What advantage is it to you Father when you can do nothing against me to divulge so many calumnies against persons that are not concern'd in the d fference between us as all your Fathers do These evasions shall not serve your turn You shall feel the weight of Truth which I oppose against you I tell you that you take away Christian Moralitie by separating it from the love of God from which you give men a dispensation and you tell me of the death of Father Mester a man I never saw in my life I tell you that your Authors allow one man to kill another for an apple when it is a shame to part with it and you tell me that a Poor's-box hath been opened at Saint Merry What do you mean when you charge me daily with the book of Holy Virginity made by an Oratorian Father whom I never saw no more then his book I cannot but admire you Father when you thus consider all that are different from you as one individual person Your indignation grasps them altogether and makes them as it were one body of Reprobates whereof you would have every one answer for the rest of his company There is a vast difference between the Jesuits and those that oppose them You do really make up one Body united under one Head and your rules as I have already discover'd allow you not to print any thing without the approbation of your superiours who by that means become accountable for the errours of every one of you in particular so as that they cannot excuse themselves by saying that they observed not the errours taught therein because they ought to have observed them according to your Ordinances and according to the Letters of your Generalls Aquaviva Vitteleschi c. It is therefore not unjustly that you are charged with the extravagances of those of your fraternity that are found in their workes when approved by your Superiours and by