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
of your Works and when you fall upon those things you discover you are strangers to them for you advance like one who gropes to find his way in the dark You have some Terms of Scripture of Communication with the Lord Walking with God and the like which you use on all occasions which are in themselves very significant but very insignificant to you because not understood by you I never found any who could practically explicate them so as to be tolerably understood Indeed there are in Scripture many things not to be understood but by Prayer Such is that Saying of our Saviour Joh. 12.25 He that hateth his Soul which S. Francis Xaverius used to say was dark in Study but clear as noon-day in Prayer Humility is necessary in a Spiritual Man God being pleased to reveal his Mysteries to the little ones when he conceals them from the proud and wise Mat. 11.15 They are those Instruments which God chiefly uses For God chooses the weak things to confound the strong and the foolish things to confound the wise the base and contemptible things to confound the proud and presumptuous that no flesh should glory in his presence 1 Cor. 1. Now this Vertue is a Flower scarce to be found in your Garden CHAP. XXXVIII Protestant Doctrins contrary to Piety FROM your pag. 149. to the end making a Panegyrick of the pretended Reformed Church you describe rather an Vtopian Congregation than it or if it rather what it should be than what it is You own some ill Men amongst you yet say pag. 153. Their bad Practices are no ground to quarrel the Doctrins Which is very true provided your Doctrins do not foster those bad Practices for I readily own it is no reproach to any Congregation to have some ill Men discovered in it there having never been any without some provided neither its Established Laws do abet the Evil nor its Doctrins dispose to it I know August Epist 137. that in the Ark of Noe one Cham was accurst That out of Abraham's Family Ismael was cast That in Isaac's Family Esau was hated In Jacob's Reuben defiled his Father's Bed In David's one Son committed Incest another turned Rebel That amongst the Apostles there was Judas a Traytor That in Paradise Adam fell and in Heaven that some Angels sinned Our Blessed Saviour teaches us that in the Church there are foolish as well as wise Virgins In the Field Cockle with good Corn In the Barn-floor Chaff with Wheat In the Net bad with good Fishes This being agreed to on both sides our only Question must be The Doctrins of which Church do foster Impiety or ill Lives You say ours and I have proved the contrary We say yours and thus I prove it First Our Will cannot seriously love or endeavor to attain to a thing represented as impossible Hence no Man in his Wits will undertake to make a Ladder to reach the Moon nor Boots to wade with hence to Jamaica because by reason of the distance of the Moon and the depth and breadth of those Seas both are looked on as impossible Now in the Protestant Doctrins the keeping of God's Commandments is esteemed impossible Wherefore these Doctrins damp all Endeavors to keep the Commandments of God or to live piously Two things may be answered to this 1. That some of ours have taught that Doctrin 2. That some of yours do not teach it To the First I answer That Jansenius indeed seems to hold it but it was condemned in his Writings by two Popes and this Condemnation received by the whole Church To the Second There never was any Decree of those of your Communion against that Doctrin nay you to this day own Communion with those who teach it So the discouragement to Vertue and Piety seems invincible amongst you How contrary is this to the Discourse of Moses to the Israelites Deut. 30.11 when he told them the Commands he had imposed on them were not of things in Heaven or in remote Countries that is to say were neither so high nor so remote as to be out of their reach but that they were in their Heart and Mouth or as easie as to Speak or Love. To the same intent 1 Joh. 5.3 the Commandments of God are said to be light Conformably to which the Catholic Church teaches that it is easie to keep God's Commandments and by this encourage all to endeavor it The two Principles on which we labor the two Springs of all our rational Actions are Hope and Fear Hope of a Reward stirs us up to good Actions Fear of Punishment diverts us from forbidden or bad Actions These Rewards and Punishments are commonly proposed to us for that intent in the Law and Prophets in the Old and New Testament Now in the Catholic Church all are taught that Heaven or an Estate of Eternal Bliss is due to good Actions by the Merits of Christ and in virtue of the Promise of God and that good and virtuous Actions are meritorious of it through Christ our Saviour And that Hell is the Lot of such as offend God mortally and die in such a State. In Protestants these two Considerations are ineffectual for they teach no Reward is to be hoped for for any good Works the very name of Merit being scandalous to their tender Consciences And no Punishment due to bad Works except Infidelity Faith assuring to them an Act of Oblivion their General Pardon whatever their Life may have been Who will seriously combat his Passions break his own sinful Will deny himself all satisfaction even in forbidden things who is persuaded that he shall never be the better for living fully up to the strictest Doctrin of the Gospel nor the worse for living contrary to it Thirdly Humility is an essential Ingredient of Piety or a vertuous Life By Pride we fell and so did the Angels by Humility we must be restored Hence our Blessed Saviour commending himself as a Master to teach us and a Pattern set to us of a vertuous Life particularly mentions this Vertue Learn of me says he for I am meek and humble of heart Now what sign of this Vertue amongst the Reformed I hear say never any of their Ministers composed any Treatise of this so great so necessary so excellent a Vertue That one was published indeed but it was only a Translation out of Rodriguez a Jesuit a thing not unusual to Print the Works of ours in their own Names as Fiat Lux observes What esteem have you for this Vertue of which you never treat Indeed the Foundation or Basis of your Reformation is Presumption or Pride it being grounded on a preference of their Judgment in understanding and explicating Scriptures a thing of as great difficulty as concern before that of lower and higher Pastors of the Church whether taken severally or assembled in Particular or even General Councils Before those Bishops whom the Holy Ghost hath placed to Govern the Church which he purchased with his own Blood
for Fasting our Blessed Saviour Fasted (c) Mat. 4.2 forty days and forty nights He foretells his Disciples (d) Mar. 2 20. fasting when the Bridegroom should be taken from them that is after his Ascension He directs us how to Fast and promises a Reward (e) Mat. 6.17 to our Fastings when duly performed He teaches that Fasting (f) Mat. 17.20 Mar. 9.29 gives us a power over the Devils When any Work of great moment was to be done Fasting was used (g) Acts 13.2 As the Disciples or Apostles ministred to the Lord and Fasted the Holy Ghost said With Fasting (h) Acts 14.23 and Prayer S. Paul and S. Barnabas were Consecrated A postles These with Fasting and Prayers (i) 2 Cor. 6.5 ordained Bishops in every Church And S. Paul several times speaks of his Fastings (k) 2 Cor. 11.27 In watchings in fastings Again In hunger and thirst in fastings often What was the Practice of the Christians of the Second Age Tertllian will teach us Apolog. pag. 40. cap. 71 where having reproached the Pagans with their Feastings in Times of Public Calamities he represents the contrary Life of Christians Nos verò jejuniis aridi omni continentiâ expressi ab omni vitae fruge delati in sacco cinere volutantes invidiâ coelum tundimus Deum tangimus cùm misericordiam extorserimus Jupiter honoratur You Feast says he but we dried up with Fasting living in perfect Continency abstaining from all Contents of this Life prostrate in Sackcloth and Ashes charge Heaven with the Odium of afflicting Persons so much afflicted and when we have by these Penitential Works forced God to take pity of the World Jupiter is honored by you For the third Age see what Moses Maximus and other Confessors required of Penitents Jejunio extenuari that they should grow lean with Fasting All the subsequent Ages give as many Testimonies to the Duty and Advantages of Fasting as there are are of any Work of Piety This the Fathers teach in their Sermons the Bishops commanded in their Canons the faithful Practise in their Lives and all recommend by their Example Nay Protestants themselves own this Truth The Author of the Duty of Man Sunday 5. n. 34. To this Duty of Repentance says he Fasting is very proper to be annexed the Scripture usually joyns them together If you desire to know the Fruits of Fasting S. Thom. 2.2 q. 147. a. 1. names three 1. To mortifie and curb our Bodies 2. To raise our Mind to Heavenly things 3. To punish in our selves the ill use of some Creatures by depriving our selves of the use of others A fourth Reason is to increase Merit Grace and Glory Virtutem largiris praemia says the Church in Praef. Quad. SECTION II. Prayer PRayer being a raising of our Souls to God it exposes our Understanding to the Divine Light and places our Will in the warmth of Divine Love Wherefore nothing can be more efficacious to clear our Mind from its Ignorance and Darkness nor to purge our Will from its depraved Affections and Passions It is a Key which opens the Treasure of God's Mercy and opens our Heart to receive its Effects It is a River of Benediction whose Waters cleanse our Soul from its Imperfections moisten our Heart make our good Purposes bud forth and flourish and fill our Will with the Fruits of Vertue It is often recommended in Scripture See (a) Mar. 13.33 watch and pray Pray (b) Mat. 26.41 that you enter not into tentation (c) Luc. 16.8 You must always pray and never faint All Places and all Times are fit for Prayer God limits neither but promises to hear us always Ask and you shall receive Whatsoever you shall ask my Father in my name he will grant it you Particularly Remission of Sins is annexed to it Hear S. Austin Enchir. c. 71. De quotidianis brevibus levibusque peccatis sine quibus haec vita non ducitur quotidiana oratio fidelium satisfacit Eorum est enim dicere Pater noster qui es in coelis qui jam Patri tali regenerati sunt ex aquâ Spiritu sancto Delet omninò haec Oratio minima quotidiana peccata Delet illa à quibus vita fidelium sceleratè etiam gesta sed poenitentiâ in melius mutatâ discedit si quemadmodum veraciter dicitur Dimitte nobis debita nostra Ita veraciter dicatur sicut nos dimittimus debitoribus nostris Id est si fiat quod dicitur The daily Prayers of the Faithful satisfie for those daily light and small sins which are incident to all in this Life these we call Venial Sins for it belongs properly to those to say Our Father which art in Heaven who are regenerated by Water and the Holy Ghost to such a Father This Prayer blots out little sins It hath a vertue also to carry away the guilt of greater sins in those who are repentant of them provided they as truly forgive as they ask to be forgiven that is they do what they say Sir how different was S. Austin's Judgment from yours He thought those Prayers efficacious to blot out venial and even mortal sins and you think the prescribing them Ridiculous Saying the Penitential Psalms is an Object of Laughter to you Were there any Church Discipline among you or had your Prelates any true Zeal for any part of Devotion you would be forced to change your note the saying the Psalms being the only part of Devotion which you retain But it seems Writing against Popery hath a Vertue to sanctifie all Impiety as acting against it did excuse all Sacrilege I never heard any Man moved to Laughter with reading the Psalms and I have known many moved by them to Compunction to a new Life and to the Love of God. Let S. Austin who experienced it himself speak lib. 9. Confess cap. 4. Dulce mihi sit ô Domine confiteri tibi quibus internis me stimulis perdomueris quemadmodum me complanaveris humiliatis montibus collibus cogitationum mearum tortuosa mea direxeris aspera lenieris quas tibi Deus meus voces dedi cùm legerem Psalmos David cantica fidelia sonos pietatis excludentes turgidum spiritum Quas tibi voces dabam in Psalmis illis quomodo in te inflammabar ex eis accendebar eos recitare si possem toto orbe terrarum adversus typhum generis humani I take a delight O my Lord to confess to thee with what inward Goads thou didst subdue me and by what Means thou didst bring me down levelling the greater and lesser Mountains of my Thoughts How thou didst streighten my crookedness and smooth my roughness Into what Exclamations did I break out O my God when I read the Psalms of David those faithful Canticles those pious Sounds which banish all proud Spirits How I cried out in reading them How I was inflamed in the love of thee how I
cap. 1 pag. 411. thought it a sign of a good Conscience to speak ill of every body You may with the ignorant Multitude much easier obtain the esteem of Piety and Zeal by speaking ill of others than doing well your self and by blaming others Lives than correcting your own A secret malignity in Nature prompts some to detract from the Good-name of their Neighbors and disposes the Hearers to receive with pleasure the Detractions Both Calumniator and his Hearers follow in this the vicious Inclinations of corrupt Nature But these must be overcome when true Vertue is aimed at and that is hard You follow the easier course and the most taking with Men whom you affect to please But how your Conscience at present and God hereafter will approve of this I leave to your more serious consideration Maledicimur benedicimus says the Apostle 1 Cor. 4.12 We are spoken ill of and we speak well or being reviled we bless Truly I had rather find matter for a Panegyrick than for a Satyr and should be more willing to write some good of you than otherwise if there were any such belonging to you as Protestants But knowing no such thing I will supply that part by Prayers that God will put you into a way of being so by bringing you to his Faith which now you impugn I wish it were Ignorans in incredulitate 1 Tim. 1.13 through Ignorance or meer want of Instruction your sin would be less and your Conversion not so desperate CHAP. XXVI Riches and Pride of Churchmen FROM pag. 91. till 100. we have a long enumeration of the Riches and Pride and Ambition of Popes Cardinals Bishops Abbots and all Churchmen You blame the sumptuousness of our Church Ornaments the Solemnity of our Processions the Majesty of our Ceremomonies c. which things being not of Faith I think my self not obliged to Answer farther than by shewing a good use may be made of them I grant that Christ founded his Church in real Poverty he sent his Apostles Luc. 10.8 to Preach with order to live upon what they found in the Places whither they went and be content with what was given them He gave them a Right to a Subsistence declaring Mat. 10.10 that a Workman deserves his Diet. And that he who serves the Altar ought to live of it 1 Cor. 9.13 And althô S. Paul was pleased not to make use of this Right commonly for a very good Reason yet the rest did and he might lawfully have done every where and actually did it at Philippi Phil. 4.15 Yet I do not find that ever our B. Saviour stinted the Apostles so as if any thing were freely given beyond what was meerly necessary they should be obliged to refuse it or restore the overplus to the Donors Neither do I find your Brethren in the Ministry commend very much your first Reformers for retrenching some of your Bishops Lands althô they left enough for not only a competent but a noble Subsistence nay your modern Writers W. L. and Heylin accuse them of Sacrilege And I do not hear that your other Bishops do break their Shins with haste to restore the surplus of their Revenues to the Heirs of the Donors which they were bound to restore if it were not lawful for Churchmen to enjoy more than what is necessary Since the fall of Religion indeed the Protestant Church hath not much encreased her Revenues which rather proceeds from lack of Charity in your Laity who give you nothing or because the Wife and Children sweep away what remains by each Incumbent at his Death than to your love of Poverty for which Vertue you have refused it when offered I have heard at least of none who would refuse a Mannor or other considerable Boon when freely given and the hard usage which some of your Tenants complain of from their Ecclesiastical Landlords proves sufficiently that you are not insensible to the Allurements of the attractive Metal Were Churchmen such as they ought to be the Laity would have little reason to repine at their Riches althô much greater than they are If they were Treasurers of the Poor Fathers to the Orphans Helps to Widows Hosts to Strangers Protectors to the Oppressed and common Sanctuaries to all necessitous Persons such as some are in the Catholic Church whom I know and many of whom we read To such as these Riches are no hindrance to their Function they give them only occasion of doing much good and practising their Charity If you think this to be blame-worthy althô Riches be so employed prove what you say out of Scripture and excuse your own Bishops from that Crime eris mihi magnus Apollo Voluntary real Poverty is much commended in the Gospel Mat. 19.21 and we have thousands in our Church who profess it and live in it and you could never get ten of your Communion to embrace it There is another Poverty called of Spirit commended Mat. 5.3 nay and commanded in Scripture Mat. 19.24 and how great soever a stranger you are to Spiritual things yet you will not say that this Poverty of Heart is inconsistent with effectual Riches otherwise it would be impossible for a rich Man to be saved A Man may be a Begger and yet be far from that Poverty of Spirit which gives a right to the Kingdom of Heaven because his Heart is fixed upon things he hath not And on the contrary another Man may be Master of a great part of the World and yet have his Heart as free from it as if he was not in the World and to use the Apostles Phrase 1 Cor. 7.31 use the World as thô he used it not Of this sort of poor of spirit there are many in the Church and always have been Hear S. Austin lib. de moribus Ecclesiae cap. 35. Sunt in Ecclesiâ Catholicâ innumerabiles fideles qui hoc mundo non utuntur sunt qui utuntur tanquam non utentes There are innumerable Faithful in the Church who make no use of the World there are others who use it as if they used it not What hath the Protestant Church to say here Pride and Ambition are personal Vices so belong not to this Treatise Yet I will say that there have been both ancient and modern Popes who have given greater Examples of Humility than any your Church can shew and who have made appear that their Title Servant of the Servants of God is no Complement Sixtus V. would not own his Mother when she was brought to him in rich Clothes saying His Mother was a poor Woman who never wore Silks in her life she was a Shepherds Wife The next day she being brought to him in Rags he presently acknowledged her Some of them have asserted the Privileges of their Chair against such as intrenched on their Rights which may be done without any Pride at all seeing they require it as due not to their own Persons but to their Chair to its Founders S. Peter and to
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
verisimile est ut tot ac tantae Ecclesiae in unam fidem erraverint Nullus inter multos eventus est unus exitus variasse debuerat error doctrinae Ecclesiarum Caeterùm quod apud multos unum invenitur non est erratum sed traditum Suppose says he that all Churches have erred that the Apostle was deceived in the Testimony he gave to some the Holy Ghost looked to none to lead it into Truth to which intent he was sent by the Son and demanded of the Father to be the Doctor of Truth Let the Steward of God the Vicar of Christ neglect his Duty and permit the Churches to understand and believe otherwise than he had taught by his Apostles Is it probable that all Churches should by Error fall into one and the same Opinion When there are so many By-ways those who lose the High-way would scarce wander into the same Error So that certainly what is found one and the same in many Churches is no Error newly invented but it is Faith of old delivered Thus Tertullian Answer you to his Discourse if you can G. B. pag. 108. A late ingenious Writer whose sincere Zeal had drawn Censures on himself and his Book took a way to repair his Reputation by a new Method of proving Popish Doctrins that they had them from their Ancestors they from theirs But this pretence hath been baffled by Mr. Claud as all know who have been so happy as to read his Works Answ I am persuaded that your Prelates will scarce think it sincere zeal in Mr. Arnaud of him you speak that he stood out so long against his Spiritual and Temporal Superiors But let that pass You discover your Ignorance in saying that Method was new or that Arnaud invented it Mr. Tho. White had it before Arnaud Mr. Fisher a Jesuit before T. W. Bellarmin before him and S. Austin S. Stephen Pope and Tertullian before them all I have read Mr. Claud's Works and was far from finding so much Satisfaction as you promise your Reader I believe rather upon Hear-say than on your own Experience Nay I have from one of the eminentest Wits of the French Hugenots that Claud was not much esteemed amongst his own for those Works which would have been neglected had not Arnaud's Enemies commended them You say Claud Baffled him others are of a different opinion I confess Mr. Arnaud thô very Learned yet seemed not qualified to manage a Controversie in defence of Church-Authority and Tradition having as much as lay in him weakned both by his Writings and Practice during the time he stood out against the Censure and the Formula which gave such advantage to Mr. Claud who industriously gathered together and cunningly returned upon him his own Arguments that some thought he had foiled his Adversary yet without any prejudice to the Catholic Cause which is not concerned in Mr. Arnaud's Personal Failings Let us now hear what you can alledge against the Authority of Tradition to prove a Change unobserved in our Faith. G. B. pag. 121. We know the Chalice was taken from the People 250 Years ago Answ 1. You are mistaken in your Epocha S. Thom. 3. p. q 80. a. 12. assures it was in his time taken away in many Places and he lived 400 Years ago and from the beginning some Persons and on some Occasions received but one Species 2. This is an Argument that Changes cannot happen without some notice taken of them as in this We know when it begun with the Schools who opposed it the Hussits what Council commended it and condemned its Opposers that of Constance Which confirms our Rule That when none of this appears there hath been no Change. G. B. ibid. All once Worshipped in their Mother Tongue but after by the overthrow of the Empire the Latin Tongue decayed the barbarous Worship was obtruded on the World. Answ This proves a Change in the People whose Language was spoiled with the mixture of barbarous Terms not in the Service which continued the same it continuing in Latin as it was before that Inundation of Barbarians G. B. pag. 122. We know that for the first seven Centuries the Christian World abhorred Images Answ In what Age did S. Gregory the Great live Sure within the first seven Centuries And he Lib. 7. Epist 109. Lib. 9. Epist 8. rebuked Serenus Bishop of Marseilles for casting them out of the Church Was not S. Austin within the first seven Centuries He Lib. 1. Consens Evang. cap. 10. speaks of the Pictures of Christ and the holy Apostles S. Peter and S. Paul. Thus I have pass'd your three Instances to prove a Change in the Faith of the Church which you usher in with that emphatical Term We KNOW If you have many other such Points of KNOWLEDGE for the Divertisement of the Learned World I wish you to publish them I am persuaded few besides your self know such things most know them to be false CHAP. XXXI Revelations and Miracles G. B. p. 123. THE Papist Church pretends to Revelations for some of her most doubtful Opinions which are the Visions and extraordinary Inspirations of some of their Saints from which they vouch a Divine Confirmation to their Doctrin Answ If you know of any Decree made in matter of Faith upon a private Revelation shew it Till you do so I will not believe it S. Tho. 1. p. q. 1. a. 8. ad 2. absolutely excludes all private Revelations from grounding Faith. Innititur Fides nostra revelationi factae Apostolis Prophetis non autem revelationi si qua fuit aliis Doctoribus facta Our Faith relies on Revelations made to the Apostles and Prophets and not on such as are made to other Doctors G. B. pag. 124. S. Paul being put to glory of Visions and Revelationt was to run back fourteen Years for one Ans S. Paul says that he had fourteen Years before that great Revelation but he never said he had no others either before or after And that Revelations were not so extraordinary in his Days as you think not only amongst the Apostles but even amongst ordinary Christians you may learn out of S. Paul 1 Cor. 14.30 32. If any thing be revealed to another that sitteth by let the first hold his peace for you may all Prophesie one by one that you may all learn and all be comforted And the Spirits of the Prophets are subject to the Prophets And can you think the Apostle should have no Revelation for so many years when the meanest Christians had them even in the middle of their publick Assemblies where they met with so many Distractions What will you say to excuse your Ignorance if other Revelations made to S. Paul be recorded in Scripture Now so it is For 1. A Macedonian Act. 16.9 appeared to him 2. Our Lord spoke to Paul in a Vision Act. 18.9 Nay the very place you cite to prove your Error confutes it for he says Lest I should be exalted above measure through the abundance
strike good Purposes deeper into our Hearts why should it be misliked The wiser of your Brethren in France acknowledge and bewail the want of them so will you if you consider it well Catholics have an unquestionable Ordination for if we have none yours must fall to the ground you having received yours from us Yours is not only questionable but questioned actually and with seeming probability denied by Catholics 1. For want of a due Minister a Bishop 2. For want of due Matter and Form. 3. For want of due Intention for your Bishops owning no Sacrifice of the new Law could not intend to confer a Power to offer Sacrifice which is essential to Priesthood They were confirmed in their opinions of your want of Ordination by your owning Communion with those Reformed Churches in France and Holland which have no lawful Ordination according to your Principles your directing yours to their Churches advising them to receive the Sacraments from them and admitting those Ministers to the Ministry among you without any new Ordination This is confirmed by the constant Practice of the Church of Rome to Ordain all such Ministers of the Church of England as being admitted to the Communion of the Catholic Church desire to enter into Holy Orders She the Church of Rome condemns Re-ordination as a Sacrilege and never practised it Hence the Priests of the Greek Armenian and Cophtic Communion renouncing their several Errors are admitted to Officiate without any new Imposition of Hands in the Church of Rome because Orders are validly conferred in those several Churches The Protestants would be in a like manner admitted had there not been a certainty from the beginning of the invalidity or nullity of their Orders To conclude they had those same Motives to continue in the Communion of the Catholic Church which S. Austin had which he relates lib. contra Epist Fundam cap. 4. Tenet consensio populorum gentium tenet auctoritas miraculis inchoata spe nutrita charitate aucta vetustate firmata tenet ab ipsa Sede Petri cui pascendas oves post Resurrectionem Dominus commendavit usque ad praesentem Episcopatum successio Sacerdotum Tenet postremò ipsum Catholicae nomen quod non sine causâ inter tam multas haereses sic ista Ecclesia sola obtinuit ut Apud vos autem ubi nihil horum est sola personat veritatis pollicitatio I am retained in the Catholic Church by the Consent of Nations by an Authority begun with Miracles nourished with Hope encreased by Charity established by Antiquity I am retained by a Succession of Priests beginning from S. Peter to whom our Lord after his Resurrection commended the Feeding of his Sheep until this present Pope Innocent XI Lastly I am retained by the very Name of Catholic which with great reason amongst so many Sects this Church alone obtains What have you to oppose against such strong Motives Scripture and the Gospel which if clear for you ought without doubt to be preferred before all those other Motives But they found this very Gospel this Scripture pronounce in their favor and against you This is my Body says the Scripture It is not Christ's Body say you The Commandments of God are not heavy says the Scripture The Commandments of God are impossible say you A reward is due to our good works says the Scripture No works of ours are meritorious nay the best are sins say you Faith without works is dead says the Scripture and you commend Faith so as to make all good works be neglected I grant some amongst you of late do not so crudely teach some of these Doctrins being ashamed of their deformity But you cannot deny but that they were taught by the first Reformers Which was sufficient to convince the World that Scripture gave no evident Verdict for them and make all afraid of their Reformation who had a care of their Souls CHAP. XXXVI Greater Exercise of Piety amongst Catholics than Protestants BAptism is given validly in both Churches but with this difference that we retain the ancient significant Ceremonies instituted by the Apostles or at least in Apostolical Times which may be proved out of Tertullian S. Cyprian S. Ambrose S. Jerom S. Austin and S. Denys you have retrenched all save only the Sign of the Cross And O judicium This is the Finger of God Exod. 8.19 the peevish refractory stubborn Children of your Church have wrangled with her about that and with the same Reasons as she had done with her Mother the Roman Catholic Church so visibly hath God meted unto you your measure Mat. 7.2 and punished you by your sin Sap. 11.17 As ours come to the use of Reason a new Sacrament expects them Confirmation which is the same mentioned so frequently in the Acts of giving the Holy Ghost by Imposition of the Apostles Hands Acts 8.17 which arms them against visible and invisible Enemies with the Spirit of Fortitude to profess their Faith. Of this Protestants We find in every Church Malachy's Prophecy fulfilled Mal. 1.11 a pure Offering made to God Mass said And in Catholic Countries Rich and Poor even the meanest Artisans and Laborers as Porters Water-carriers c. will steal so much time from their almost necessary Rest as to give half an hour to adore God and his Son Jesus in the Morning hoping they will bless their Labors all the Day the better for it O that you did but see with what Attention and Respect they assist at those Divine Mysteries how with their Knees on the Ground their Eyes on the Altar their Heart in Heaven they accompany the Priest and with him jointly make that Oblation to God with what Sentiments they adore Christ present and desire him to appease his Father's Wrath for their Sins by the Merits of his Passion and preserve them from offending anew that Day and to bless that Days Actions What do Protestants As soon as they are up they have their Hand in the Cupbord in the Cup their Nose Have any by mortal Sins shut against themselves the Gates of Heaven which the Passion of Christ opened they stir up a real Sorrow for that Offence of God purpose Amendment and with these Dispositions address themselves to a Priest with a Resolution to follow his Advice and perform what he shall enjoyn They discover to him all the wounds of their Soul their most secret and most reproachful Sins as to God himself whose Vicegerent he is being assured of an inviolable Secret and it is doubtless a perpetual Miracle that amongst so many thousands of Priests not one should be found faulty in this Point They hearken to his Advice accept his Penance to Fast Pray give Alms visit Prisoners serve Poor in Hospitals or the like according as the Condition of the Penitent permits Then receive Absolution in vertue of the Power given by our Saviour to Priests Joh. 20.23 The Effects of this Sacrament are Remission of Sins past avoiding others making Restitution if