AN EXPOSITION OF THE DOCTRINE OF THE Catholic Church IN MATTERS OF Controversie By the Right Reverend JAMES BENIGNE BOSSUET Counsellor to the King Bishop of Meaux formerly of Condom and Preceptor to the Dauphin First Almoner to the Dauphiness Done into English from the Fifth Edition in French LONDON Printed in the Year 1685. The Approbation of the Right Reverend the Archbishops and Bishops WE have read the Treatise intituled An Exposition of the Doctrine of the Catholic Church in Matters of Controversie Composed by the Right Reverend James Benignus Bossuet Bishop and Lord of Condom Preceptor to his Royal Highness the Dauphin And we declare That after having examined it with as much application as the importance of the matter required we have found the Doctrine contained in it to be conformable to the Catholic Apostolic and Roman Faith And therefore we think our selves obliged to propose it as such to those whom God has committed to our charge We are certain the Faithful will be edified by it and we hope those of the Pretended Reform'd Religion who will read this Work with attention will receive from it so right an understanding as may conduce to put them into the way of Salvation CHARLES MAURICE LE TELLIER Archbishop and Duke of Reims CH. de ROSMADEC Bishop of Tours FELIX Bishop and Earl of Chalons De GRIGNAN Bishop of Usez D. DE LIGNY Bishop of Meaux NICHOLAS Bishop of Auxerre GABRIEL Bishop of Autun MARC Bishop of Tarbe ARMAND JOHN Bishop of Beziers STEPHEN Bishop and Prince of Grenoble JULIUS Bishop of Tule A Table of Articles contained in this Treatise I. DEsign of this Treatise Pag. 1 II. Those of the Pretended Reform'd Religion acknowledg That the Catholic Church embraces all the Fundamental Articles of the Christian Religion Pag. 2 III. Religious Worship is terminated only in God Pag. 4 IV. Invocation of Saints Pag. 6 V. Images and Reliques Pag. 9 VI. Justification Pag. 12 VII Merits of Good Works Pag. 13 VIII Satisfactions Purgatory and Indulgences Pag. 16 IX Sacraments Pag. 19 Baptism Pag. 20 Confirmation Ibid. Pennance and Sacramental Confession Ibid. Exream Vnction Pag. 21 Marriage Ibid. Holy Orders Pag. 22 X. Doctrine of the Church touching the real Presence of the Body and Blood of JESUS CHRIST in the Eucharist and how the Church understands these Words This is my Body Ibid. XI Explication of these Words Do this in remembrance of me Pag. 25 XII Explication of the Doctrine of the Calvinists concerning the real Presence Pag. 27 XIII Of Transubstantiation and Adoration and in what sense the Eucharist is a Sign Pag. 33 XIV Sacrifice of the Mass Pag. 34 XV. Epistle to the Hebrews Pag. 37 XVI Reflections upon the precedent Doctrine Pag. 39 XVII Communion under both Species Pag. 41 XVIII The Written and unwritten Word Pag. 43 XIX The Authority of the Church Pag. 44 XX. The Opinions of the Pretended Reform'd upon the Authority of of the Church Pag. 46 XXI Authority of the Holy See and of Episcopacy Pag. 50 XXII Conclusion of this Treatise Ibid. An Advertisement upon Account of this Present Edition ONE would have thought those of the pretended Reformed Religion in reading this Treatise should at least have granted that the Doctrine of the Church was faithfully Expounded in it The least they could have allowed a Bishop was to have understood his own Religion and to have spoke without disguise in a matter where to dissemble would be a crime But nevertheless it has fallen out otherwise This Treatise whilst a Manuscript was made use of to instruct several particular persons and many Copies of it were dispersed Upon which the sincerer part of the pretendedly Reform'd were almost every where heard to say That if it were approved it would in reality take away great difficulties But that the Author durst never publish it and if he should he would not escape the censure of all those of his Communion not particularly of Rome which would not frame it self to his Maxims After some time nevertheless this Book thus condemned to a perpetual obscurity appeared ushered in with the Approbation of several Bishops And the Author who knew very well he had only expressed in it the mind of the Council of Trent apprehended not those censures threatned by the Reformers It was not certainly probable that the Catholick Faith should be betrayed instead of being expounded by a Bishop who after having preached the Gospel all his life time without the least suspicion of his Doctrine had been newly called to instruct a Prince whom the greatest King in the World and the most zealous Defender of the Religion of his Ancestors causes to be Educated in such a manner that he may be one day one of its principal supports But these Gentlemen of the pretended Reformation ceased not to persevere in their first Opinion They expected every moment when Catholicks should oppose this Book and Rome it self condemn it The occasion of this their imagination was that the major part who know nothing of our Doctrine but as represented to them by their Ministers under the most hideous Ideas know it not again when shewn in its natural dress So that it was no hard task to represent to them the Author of the Exposition as one who mollified the Sentiments of his Religion and sought out proper and qualifying moderations to content all Parties There has appeared two Answers to this Treatise The Author of the first would not discover his name M. Claude de Langle Daille Alix and till he himself be pleased to declare it we will not reveal the secret It is enough to us that this work was approved by the Ministers of Charenton and sent to the Author of the Exposition by the late M. Conrart one endowed with all that Catholicks could desire in a Man An. p. 3. 112 113 124.137 c. excepting a better Religion The other Answer was written by M. Noguier a Minister who is amongst them of great repute and has the esteem of an able Divine Nog p. 63 94 95 109 110. An. p. 10. Nog p. 40. Nog p. 20 27. They both pretended the Exposition was contrary to the decisions of the Council of Trent They both affirm the very design it self of expounding the Doctrine of the Council to be prohibited by the Pope And they both take care to say that M. de Condom does only mince and extenuate the Doctrine of his Religion As they represent him one would think that he relents An. Avert p. 24. that he is coming over to them that he abandons the Sentiments of his own Church Rep. p. 3. An. p. 137. Nog p. 94. An Avert p. 25 26 27 28 29. and embraces those of the Pretended Reform'd In fine his Treatise agrees not with that Profession of Faith which the Roman Church proposes to all those who are of her Communion and they represent him at defiance with every Article If we believe the Anonymus this
Prelate is come to a fair composition about Transubstantiation He is willing to content himself with such a reality of the Body of Jesus Christ in the Sacrament as the Pretended Reform'd themselves believe An. Avert p. 27. When he treats of the Invocation of Saints He endeavours to mitigate and extenuate this worship of the Roman Church An. p. 24. both as to her Tenets and Practice Together with the Veneration of Saints he softens that of Images An. p. 24. An. p. 65. as also the Articles of Satisfaction Sacrifice of the Mass and the Popes Authority As for Images he is ashamed of the Excess to which the Doctrine as well as Practice has been carried The Anonymus who represents him as if he had changed the Council of Trents expression in the Article of Satisfaction p. 110. will needs have it that this change in the Expression proceeds from an alteration which he introduces in the Doctrine In fine he represents him as one who is going over to the Sentiments of the new Reformation or to use his own Expression like the Dove which returns to the Ark not finding where to rest his foot An. p. 104 368. He not only lays to his charge particular Opinions about the Merits of Good Works and the Authority of the Pope but seems ready if we would conform our selves to the Doctrine of the Exposition to admit of those two Articles which so much perplex those of his Communion There is nothing generally more frequently repeated in his Book An. Avert p. 23 26. Rep. p 3. c. than the reproaches he casts upon the Author of the Exposition for deserting the Communion of the Church of Rome He wishes all those of M. de Condoms Communion would reduce themselves to the moderations in this Book An. Avert p. 30. and write conformably to its sense This would says he a little after be a happy beginning of a Reformation which might have much more happy consequences Nay more he takes an advantage from these pretended allievations These Softnings of M. de Condom says he are so far from giving us an ill opinion of our Reformation An. p. 85. they confirm us that good and moderate Person themselves condemn at least a great deal that we do and by consequence in some measure acknowledge a Reformation to be useful and necessary He should have concluded quite otherwise For a Reformation such as theirs is which tends to a change in Doctrine ought not to regard those things which are condemned already by a common consent But the pretended Reform'd are willing to perswade themselves that the Honest and moderate Persons in Communion with Rome amongst which number they allow M. de Condom a place in many things abandon the Sentiments of their Church and come over as much as they can to the new Reformation Thus you see what they are made to believe by this strange manner of mis-representing the Catholick Doctrine Being accustomed to that hideous and terrible form in which their Ministers represent it in their Pulpits they imagine those Catholicks who lay it open in its natural Purity disguise and alter it The more justly we represent it as it is the less are they acquainted with it and they imagine we are going over to them when we only disabuse them of their false preocupations 'T is true they say not always the same thing The Anonymus who accuses M. de Condom of making such considerable alterations in the Doctrine of the Church p 61 6 tells us this Exposition has nothing new in it but a dextrous and delicate turn and in fine nothing but apparent qualifying which consisting only in some expressions or in things of small consequence gives no body any Satisfaction and only raises new difficulties instead of resolving old So that he seems to be sorry for having represented the Exposition as a Book which made an alteration in the Faith of the Church in all its principal points not only in the Expressions but in the Doctrine Let him take it which way he pleases If he continue to think a Book so truly Catholick as the Exposition contrary to so many important points of the Roman Faith he shews himself never to have had any thing but false Ideas of its Doctrine And if it be true that by sweetning only the expressions or retrenching as he says matters of small consequence the Catholick Doctrine seems to him so much more tractable he will in the end find the grounds of it were better then he imagined But the truth of the matter is M. de Condom has not betrayed his trust nor dissembled the Faith of the Church in which the Holy Ghost has placed him a Bishop And the pretended Reform'd could not perswade themselves that a Doctrine which already appears less strange by the sole exposition of it and that an Exposition so plain so easie and so 〈◊〉 should be that Doctrine which their Ministers represented to them full of Blasphemy and Idolatrous We ought no doubt to give God thanks for such a disposition because although it shew in them a strange prejudice against us yet it gives us hopes they will look upon our Tenets with a more equal temper when once they are satisfied that the Doctrine of this Treatise which seems to them already more pleasing is the pure Doctrine of the Church So that we are so far from being angry at them for making so great a difficulty to to believe us when we propose our Faith to them that we are obliged in Charity to give them Lights so clear and evident that they may not hereafter doubt but it was faithfully expounded to them The thing shews it self and we need but tell them that this Treatise of the Exposition which they believe is contrary not only to the Common Tenets of the Doctors of the Roman Church but also to the words and Doctrine of the Council is approved by the whole Church and that after having received divers Testimonies of Approbation from Rome as well as from other places it has at last been approved by the Pope himself in the most express and most Authentick manner that could be expected This Book had no sooner appeared in publick but the good repute it had throughout France was testified to the Author by Letters from all sorts of People from Lay Persons Ecclesiasticks Religious and Doctors but especially from the most Learned Prelates of the Church whose Testimonies he could even then have produced had the Subject been ever so little dubious or new But because the Pretended Reform'd are apt to believe us in France to have particular thoughts and Tenets which approach nearer unto theirs in matters of Faith than the rest of the Church and particularly than Rome it is convenient we should let them see how matters there were carried on As soon as this Treatise was come forth Cardinal Bouillon sent it to Cardinal Bona desiring him to examine it with
Doctrine has naturally as I may say passed through all the degrees of Approbation till it came to that of the Pope himself which confirms all the rest Those of the Pretended Reformed Religion may at present see how they were imposed upon An. Avert p. 23. when they were told The Person was known and that a Catholick too who writ against this Exposition of M. de Condom It would certainly be a strange thing this good Catholick unknown to all others of that Religion should make the Enemies of the Church his only Confidents in a Work which he designed against a Bishop of his own Communion But this Imaginary Writer makes the World stay too long and the Pretended Reform'd are too credulous if they suffer themselves hereafter to be amused by such like Promises Thus one of the necessary Questions to be answered in vindication of the Exposition is entirely dispatch'd We need not now go about to refute those Ministers who held the Doctrine of the Exposition not to be that of the Church Time and Truth have so refuted their allegations that no room is left for a reply M. Nogâ—ier would first hear the Oracle of Rome speak before he would admit M. de Condom to have rightly explicated the Catholock Faith p. 41. I give no credit says he to those Approbations which these Bishops give in Writing Other Doctors want not the like Approbations and after all the Oracle of Rome must speak in matters of Faith The Anonymus was of the same mind and both of them supposed nothing more could be said in this matter against M. de Condom if once this Oracle had but spoken This Oracle has now spoken this Oracle I say which the whole Catholick Church hearkned to with so much respect in the very origine of Christianity and the answer it has given has shewn what this Prelate had said hath nothing new or to be suspected in it nothing in a word which is not receiv'd throughout the whole Church Nay this Question being answered all the others are in a manner insensibly dispatcht Mr. de Condom held the Catholick Doctrine was never rightly understood by the pretended Reform'd and that the Authors of their Separation had magnified the Objects to render them odious What he said appears now most certain seeing it is manifest on the one side the Exposition proposes to them the Catholick Faith in its Purity and on the other that it appeared less strange to them than they thought it was But if they find their Pretended Reformers to the end they might animate them against that Church in which their Ancestors served God and in which they themselves received Baptism were forced to fly to those Calumnies which we see now are not maintainable how can they dispence with themselves if they search not a new And why are they not afraid to persist in a Schism which is manifestly founded upon false Principles in even the most principal points They believ'd for example they had good grounds to separate from the Church under pretence that whilst she taught the merit of good Works she destroyed Free Justification Gratuite and that Confidence which a Christian ought to have in JESVS CHRIST only Their breach was principally founded upon this Article An. p. 86. The Anonymus thinks it enough to say The Article concerning Justification is one of the chief that gave occasion to the Reformation But M. Noguiers speaks more plainly Nog p. 83. Those says he who were the Authors of our Reformation had reason to propose the Article of Justification as the most principal of the rest and the most Essential Foundation of their separating At present then seeing M. de Condom tells them together with the whole Church Expos p. 14 15. That she believes we cannot have Life but in Jesus Christ in whom alone she puts all her Hope That she asks all things hopes all things and gives thanks for all things through our Lord JESVS CHRIST and in fine that she places all the hopes of Salvation on him What would they have more The Church tells us Expos p. 15. That all our Sins ars pardon'd by pure Mercy through JESVS CHRIST That we owe that Justice which is in us by the Holy Ghost to his free undeserved liberality and that all our good Works which we do are so many gifts of his Grace The Author of this Exposition who teaches this Doctrine does not teach it as his own God forbid Ibid. p. 15. He teaches it as the clear and manifest Doctrine of the Council of Trent and the Pope approves his Book After this shall it be again said That the Council of Trent and the Roman Church overthrow Free Justification and that trust which the Faithful ought to repose in Jesus Christ alone Is not this unsufferable And if we should hold our Tongues would not the Stones cry aloud and proclaim us injur'd It must be also granted as it was taken notice of in the Exposition Ex. p 15. that those Disputes which the Pretended Reform'd have raised upon so capital a Point are almost brought to nothing not to say wholly refuted No body will doubt of it if they consider what the Anonymus has writ concerning the merit of Good Works with the approbation of four Ministers of Charenton We acknowledge says he as in Justice we must M. de Condom and those of the Roman Church An. p. 104. who hold the most Orthodox Opinions concerning Grace express themselves almost in all things as we do We agree with them in the main But since he promised us so much Justice he ought to have acknowledged that M. de Condom whom he makes here to be of a particular Sect has not said one word concerning the merit of Good Works which is not taken from the Council Expos p. 13 14 15. He said Eternal Life ought to be proposed to the Children of God both as a Grace which is mercifully promised to them by the means of our Saviour Jesus Christ and as a Recompence which is faithfully rendred to their good Works and to their merits in virtue of that Promise He said That Merits are the gifts of God He said We can do nothing of our selves but that we can do all things with him who strengthens us and that our whole confidence is in JESVS CHRIST And the rest which you may see in their proper place By this means it is he has satisfied the Pretended Reform'd and made them say they agree with him in the main Seeing therefore these Propositions are taken word by word from the Council they cannot hereafter but acknowledge the Principal Subject of their complaints to be taken away by the sole proposing the Decrees and proper Terms of a Council so much hated and blamed amongst them What is it offends them most in the Satisfactions which the Church exacts from the Faithful but only that they think Catholicks looks upon those of
contrary full of Esteem for this Work I discoursed of it likewise to the Cardinals of the Congregation and amongst all the rest I found Cardinal Brancas much enclined to praise the Author and esteem the Book So that I doubt not but M. de Condom will receive here the same approbation which has been given him every where else and which is so legitimately due both to his Learning and his Labour I am very much obliged to you for having given me the means of admiring him and have perceived in this your old and ordinary goodness The Author is close in his Proofs and explicates very clearly the Subject he treats on in shewing the true difference betwixt the belief of Catholics and that of the Enemies of the Church I do not think the method he takes to explicate the Doctrine taught in the Council of Trent can in the least be disapprov'd This Method having been practised by many other Writers and being handled throughout his whole Book with great Exactness Certainly it was never his Intention to give the Interpretation of the Tenets of the Council but only to deliver them in his Book rightly explicated in such sort that Heretics may be convinc'd and especially in those things which the Holy Church obliges them to believe He speakes perfectly well of the Popes Authority and whereever he treats of the visible Head of the Church he appears full of respect for the Holy See In fine I must tell you once again M. de Condom cannot be too much commended c. Rome April the 5th 1672. A Letter from the Reverend Father HIACINTHUS LIBELLI at that time Master of the Sacred Palace and now Arch-Bishop of Avignon to the Cardinal SIGISMOND CHIGI I Have read M. de Condom's Book which contains an Exposition of the Doctrine of the Church I am extreamly indebted to your Eminence for giving me the opportunity of employing four hours so profitably and with so much Pleasure It is impossible for me to express how much this work has pleased me both for the peculiar Excellence of the design and for the Proofs which correspond to it The Doctrine is sound in all its parts and without the smallest shadow of a fault As for my self I cannot see what can be objected against it and if the Author would have the Book Printed at Rome I will give all the necessary Approbations without changing a single Word This Author who has a great deal of Wit has shown a great deal of Judgment too in this Treatise where laying aside disputes which ordinarily speaking do but encrease Dissentions it being rare to find any who will grant the Preheminence of Wit to their Companions he has found out another and more easie Method of treating with the Calvinists from which much better Fruit may be expected In effect as soon as they can be brought to lay aside that horrour which they have sucked in with their Milk against our Tenets they come more willingly towards us and discovering the insincerity of that Doctrine which they learn'd from their Masters the principal Maxim of which is That our Doctrines are horrid and incredible they apply themselves with more tranquillity of Mind to search into Catholic Verities This is what they must be carefully exhorted to sinee there is no better Method to make them renounce their Errors and your Eminence had great reason when you lately said That Catholic Truth will always be victorious in the Mind of every man of Sense who will only without prejudice consider it in comparison with Heresy I take the Liberty to write this long Discourse to your Eminence not being able to contain within my self the Pleasure which the reading of this Book you have been pleased to let me have has afforded me I beg your Eminence will continue the like Favours to me c. Rome 26 April 1672. A Letter from the Bishop and Prince of PADERBORNE at that time Coadjutor and now Bishop of Munster to the Author THE most Christian King when he entrusted to you the Instruction and Education of his Son born to so much Greatness did by his Judgment alone sufficiently recommend your Knowledg and your Merit to all the World and all Posterity yet you have given a new Lustre to your Reputation and to the Christian Doctrine by an immortal Monument of your Worth I would say by that most excellent Book whose Title is An Exposition of the Doctrine of the Catholic Church which has not only gained the vast applause of Catholics but forced the Heretics themselves to give deserved Praises to your Judgment and Erudition In this most admirable Treatise there appears a most incredible facility to unfold the most difficult the most sublime and most divine things and at the same time a most winning candor and a truly Christian Charity and Bounty capable to draw with sweetness all those who are set in Darkness and in the shadow of Death and to enlighten and conduct them into the way of Peace Insomuch that you seem to be chosen amongst the Bishops to reduce the Enemies of Catholic Faith under the easie Yoak of Truth To the end therefore the effects of this great work might be the more extended and might spread it self throughout all Germany and amongst other Nations I had formed to my self a design of having it put into Latin but after having read your Letter of the 24th of April I had a doubt whether I ought to proceed any further in it or quit my design because I perceived you were as perfect a Master of the Latin Tongue as of the French and that you writ it with so much Purity that if any other should undertake to translate your Works instead of adorning those curious Products of your Wit he might on the contrary discredit them You ought the rather therefore to be desired to put your self in Latin what you have published But seeing that perhaps you have not leisure and if you had it would be much better you should be employed in the Composition of more new Works than in the translation of those you have already Composed because you admit of it I will hasten him to whom I have committed it to finish what he has begun and will send you the Version of your own Book that you may review and correct it your self What remains for me is always infinitely to honour your Vertue and Learning and to make it my endeavour to cultivate that Friendship which my care of the Version and your Bounty have given so favourable a beginning to Continue still to love me most worthy Prelate who serve the Church so well and while you give the Dauphin so many excellent instructions contrive for me a place in the remembrance and affection of so great a Prince Give if you please my most humble Service to the Duke de Montausier In my Castle at the confluence of the Lippe the Padere and the Alise the 29th of May 1673 A Letter from the Reverend Father
JESVS CHRIST as unsufficient Will they deny their Catechisms and Confessions of Faith are not grounded upon this foundation What will they now say when the Author of the Exposition tells them with the whole Church That JESVS CHRIST Expos p. 16. seq God and Man was solely capable by the infinite Dignity of his Person to offer up to God a sufficient Satisfaction for our Sins That this Satisfaction is infinite That our Saviour has payed the entire Price of our Redemption That nothing is wanting to this Price seeing it is infinite and that the Punishments reserv'd suffered in Penance come not from any defect in the Payment but from a certain Order which he has established to restrain us by just fears and by a saving Discipline These and all those other Expressions which make the Anonymus say this Author extenuates the Doctrine of Satisfaction and returns like the Dove to the Ark are the pure Doctrines of the Church and of the Council of Trent acknowledged for such by the Pope himself Why therefore will they make People believe the Church looks upon that as an aid to the Satisfactions of Jesus Christ which she proposes as a means only to apply it And with what security of Conscience could the Pretended Reform'd upon such false suppositions violate that Holy unity which JESVS CHRIST has so much recommended to his Church They look upon our Sacrifice of the Altar with Horrour as if JESVS CHRIST were again put to Death upon it Epos p. 25. What has the Author of the Exposition done to diminish this horrour so unjust but only represented the Doctrine of the Church faithfully He has told them this Sacrifice is of such a nature that it admits only a mystical and Spiritual Death of our adorable Victim who remains always impassible and immortal and is so far from diminishing the infinite Perfection of the Sacrifice of the Cross It is established only to celebrate the remembrance of it and to apply the Vertue The Anonymus assures us upon this account that M. de Condom minces the Doctrine of the Catholick Church And M. Noguier also assures us he has not exposed the Truth Nog p. 286. Exp. p. 36. An. p. 61. An. p. 24. And yet he has only followed the Doctrine of the Council whose proper Terms he has made use of and the whole Church approves his Exposition Who does not therefore perceive how this Doctrine appears to the Pretended Reform'd more moderate and agreeable only because they do not find those Monsters in it which they imagine to themselves The Anonymus himself tells us Rep. p. 24 35. The Article of Invocation of Saints is one of the most Essential in Religion It is also one of those wherein M. de Condom seems to him chiefly to soften the Doctrine of his Church for he accuses him of it no less than three times But what has M. de Condom said the same that the Catechism of the Council of Trent said the same that the Council it self and the Confession of Faith drawn from it has said and the same which all Catholicks say Epos p. 6. sequ That the Saints offer their Prayers for us This is what the Confession of Faith says that they offer them by JESVS CHRIST this is what the Council says in a word That we pray to them with the same Mind we pray to our Brethren who are upon Earth with us Expos p. â— that is to Pray with us and for us to our common Master in the name of our common Mediator who is JESVS CHRIST Behold what Mide Condom has extracted out of the Council out of the Catechism and out of all the publick acts of the Church the reason his Doctrine has been so much approved This answer is sufficient to ruin the very Grounds of that horrour which the Pretended Reform'd have conceived against our Doctrine Their Catechism accuses us of Idolatry because by that recourse we have to Saints Catech. dim 34. we place one part of our Trust in them and give to them what God has reserv'd to himself But on the contrary it appears when we pray to Saints we Pray to them only to pray for us a kind of Prayer which by its own Nature is so far from being reserved by an independent Being to himself it can never be address'd to him And if this form of Prayer Pray for us diminished the trust we have in God it would be no less Condemnable to use it to the living than to the dead 1 Thes 5.25.2 3.1 and St. Paul would not have said so often Brethren pray for us The whole Scripture is full of Prayers of this Nature Heb. 13.18 But says their Confession of Faith this is to overthrow the Mediation of J. C. Who commands us to retire our selves in private Conf. Art 24. and to pray to his Father in his Name How can any one imagine this seeing the Saints who are in Heaven no more than the Faithful upon Earth make intercessions by and through themselves or in their own Names Ep. p. 6. but in the Name of JESVS CHRIST as all Catholicks teach with the Council Thus the Catholick Church has only to declare as she does her intention never was to demand any thing of the Saints but their humble Prayers in the name of JESVS CHRIST of Nature with those the Faithful offer up for one another upon Earth these few Words will convince for ever the pretendedly Reform'd that they have born to her a hatred most unjust But M Noguier declares Let M. de Candom say what he will Nog p. 54. he will never be perswaded the Roman Church has no other Intention when she tells us it is prositable to invocate the Saints but that we should ask them the assistance of their Prayers as we do those of the Faithful who live amongst us But what will he say now he sees the Roman Church so visibly approve what M. de Condom had in effect only gathered from the universal belief of those in Communion with her But why then adds M. Noguier Nog p. 57. Do Catholicks ask not only the Prayers but the Aid Protection and Succour of the blessed Virgin and of the Saints As if that were not a kind of Aid Succour and Protection to recommend the miserable to him who alone can comfort them Such is the Protection we may receive from the blessed Virgin and from the Saints It is not a small Succour to be aided by their Prayers seeing they are at the same time so humble so pleasing and so efficatious But why should we argue about words where the thing is so evident The Exposition produces to these Ministers most certain Testimonies by which it is manifest Expos p. 7. that in what Terms soever the Prayers we offer to the Saints be Couched the Intention of the Church and of the Faithful always reduces them to this Form PRAY
objected against the Popes 2. Thes 2.3.4 that they are that wicked Person that man of Iniquity who has seated himself in the Temple of God and makes himself adored as God They who confess themselves not only mortal men but sinners who pray every day with the rest of the Faithful forgive us our offences and who never approach the Altar without Confessing of their sins and without saying in the most essential part of the Holy Sacrifice they hope for eternal life not by their own Merits but through the Bounty of God in the name of our Lord JESVS CHRIST T is true they maintain that Primacy which JESVS CHRIST has given them in the Person of St. Peter but it is by That they advance the Work of JESVS CHRIST himself the Work of Charity and Concord which would never have been perfectly accomplished if the Universal Church and all the Episcopal Order had not one head of Ecclesiastical Gover ment upon Earth to make the Members act in concurrence and accomplish in the whole Body the Mystery of Unity so much recommended by the Son of God It is just as much as nothing to answer that the Church has her true Head in Heaven who Unites her by animating her with his Holy Spirit who doubts of it But who does not know this Holy Spirit who disposes all things with as much sweetness as efficacy knows also how to prepare exteriour means proportionable to his designs The Holy Ghost both teaches and governs us interiourly therefore he establishes Pastors and Teachers to Act exterourly The Holy Ghost Unites the Body of the Church and the Ecclesiastical Government therefore it is he places at the head a common Father and a principal disposer who may Govern the whole Family of JESVS CHRIST We will call to witness the Consciences of those of the Pretended Reform'd Religion In this unfortunate age when so many wicked Sects endeavour by little and little to undermine the Foundations of Christianity and believe it enough only to name JESVS CHRIST to introduce indifferency in Religion and manifest impiety into the bosom of the Church Who sees not the necessity of a Pastor who may watch over his flock and authorized from above encite all others whose vigilance might slacken Let them in reality tell us if it be not the Seconians the Anabaptists the Independants those who under the name of Christian Liberty would establish indifferency in Religions and so many other pernicious Sects which they condemn as well as we who fly with the greatest impetuosity against St. Peters Chair and cry loudest that his Authority is Tyrannical I do not wonder at it those who would divide the Church or surprise her fear nothing more than to see her march against them like a well ranged Army under one head Let us not raise a quarrel with any let us only reflect whence come those Books wherein these dangerous Licenses and Antichristian Doctrines are taught at least none can deny but the See of Rome by the very Constitution of it is incompatible with these Novelties and if we could not know by the Gospel that the Primacy of this See is necessary for us Experience it self would convince us of it Moreover We must not be astonished if this Author of the Exposition who places the essential Authority of this See in those things wherein all Catholic Schools agree hath been approved without difficulty The Chair of St. Peter stands in need of no disputing what all Catholics acknowledge without contestation suffices to maintain that Power which was given to it for edification and not for destruction The Pretended Reform'd should hereafter give way no more to those vain Phantoms with which they are frighted What does it profit them to search in Histories for the Vices of Popes when if what they meet with there should be true does the Vices of men destroy the institution of JESVS CHRIST and the Priviledge of St. Peter shall the Church rise in Rebellion against a Power which maintains her Unity under pretence that some have abus'd it Christians are accustomed to reason upon higher and more true Principles and know that God is able to maintain his works in the midst of all the evils which accompany humane frailty We do then Conjure these of the Pretended Reform'd Religion by that Charity which is God himself by the name of Christian which is common to us both not to judge of the Doctrine of our Church by what they hear in their Sermons or read in their Books where many times the heat of dispute and Prevention not to mention any other make things frequently otherwise represented then they are but to hearken to this Exposition of the Catholic Doctrine It is a work in reality which consists not so much in disputing as in explicating clearly our belief In which to see how plainly the Author has proceeded we need only consider his design He promised in the very beginning 1. To propose the true Tenets of the Catholic Church Exp. p. 2. and to distinguish them from those which are falsely imputed to her 2. To the end no one should doubt but that he faithfully proposed the true Sentiments of the Church Exp. p. 2. he promised to take them from the Council of Trent where the Church has spoken decisively upon the things in question 3. He promised to propose to the Pretended Reform'd not all points in general Exp. p. 2. but those which caused the greatest separation betwixt them and us and to speak properly those which they made the occasions of their breach 4. He promised that what he said to make the decisions of the Council more intelligible Exp. p. 2. should be approved of in the Church and manifestly conformable to the Doctrine of the same Council All this is plain and just And in the first place no body can think it strange we should distinguish the Churches Tenets from those which are falsely imputed to her When Persons are animated beyond measure for want of a right understanding and when strange prejudices move great disputes there is nothing more natural nothing more charitable then to explicate matters clearly The Holy Fathers practised a way fraudless and calm like this to set men right again Whilst the Arians and Semi-Arians decryed the Symbol of Nice and the Consubstantiality of the Son by the false Ideas they fixed upon them St. Athanasius and St. Hilarius the two most illustrious defenders of the Nicene Faith represented to them the true sense of the Councils and St. Hilarius said to them S. Hil. lib. de syn Let us both together condemn false Interpretations but not destroy the certainty of Faith The Word Consubstantial may be mis-understood let us resolve how we may rightly understand it We may lay down the true state of Faith betwixt us if we do not overthrow what has been rightly established but remover mis-understanding It is Charity it self which dictates such words and suggests such
RAIMUNDUS CAPISUCCHI Master of the Sacred Palace to the Author AFter having admired with all others so sublime a desert as yours I must also shew the particular Inclination I have to serve you occasioned by that excellent and learned Work you have composed for the defence of the Catholic Faith and which has been lately translated into Italian for it 's farther spreading I am indebted to you an infinite acknowledgment for having afforded me an occasion of rendring you some Service we are all of us here in great expectation of the publishing of this excellent piece that we may enjoy the fruits of your Labours No body will have a greater satisfaction than my self who do and shall always feel an ardent desire to render my self worthy of the honour of your Commands I end with assuring you of my Respects Rome 20 June 1675. The Approbations of the Roman Edition Anno 1678. The Approbation of Signor MICHEL ANGELO RICCI Secretary to the Congregation of I. and H. R. and Consultor of the Holy Office VVHAT the Council of Trent has with great care performed in making an entire separation betwixt Articles of Faith opinions and disputes of the Schools and explicating the same Doctrines of Faith in more clear and significant Terms what Tertullian had formerly done in condemning the secession of Heretics from the Church by several Prescriptions what others have practised whilst they ingenuously combated Heretics by their own Principles and Rules the same has the Right Reverend James Benign Bossuet Bishop of Condom performed in this Work in a clear and short Method proper to perswade manifesting to us the admirable parts of the Author Which work being now for the convenience of the Italians elegantly translated out of French into our Mother Language I esteem worthy to be Printed and Published Rome August the 5th 1678. The Approbation of the Reverend Father LAURENCE BRANCATI DE LAUERA of the Congregat Consist of I. Rites Visit Consultor and Qualificator of the Holy Office and Bibliothecarian of the Vatican Library c. I Esteem most worthy publishing the little Treatise or Discourse Printed in French and several other Languages and at present Translated out of French into Italian in which the most Illustrious James Benign Bossuet Bishop and Lord of Condom does forceably combat in a Noble Grave and Solid Stile the Ministers of the Pretended Reform'd Religion and their followers as well by the common and fundamental Rules of the Church as by their own Principles showing that it is not Catholics as those Ministers imagine but the Ministers themselves who by drawing unnatural Consequences have receded from those Tenets which are common to them and us and by taking the Scriptures and Councils in a wrong sense have separated themselves from the Catholic Church But if they would examin without passion the Rules of Catholics grounded upon their Councils and especially upon that of Trent they would without doubt by the Grace of God return again to a Holy Unity all which this Author shows them in a most pleasing and no less convincing manner running through all the points of Controversie Given in the Convent of the Twelve Apostles at Rome the 25. July 1678. F. Laurentius de Laurea Min. Conventualis The Approbation of the Abbot Stephen Gradi I Have with diligence and application read the excellent Work of the Lord James Benign Bossuet Bishop of Condom faithfully and elegantly Translated into Italian where the Doctrine of the Church is explicated after a manner both concise clear and full And it wrought the same Impression in me which ordinarily those nobler sort of Writings which are the products of a sound Doctrine and solid Reason do in their Readers when they are convinc'd they could not have said any thing more to the purpose nor spoken otherwise if they had undertaken to write of the same Subject But what Transported me the most was that Wisdom and Moderation of the Author in the choice of those things which he asserts he retrenches all those things which serve only to lengthen Disputes and render a good Cause odious and betakes himself to Truth alone as to a strong hold which he renders not only secure but inaccessable applying himself wholly to establish the true state of the Question which by that means is rendred clear and easie to be judged of Upon which account all those if they will believe me who are concerned for the Peace of the Church or the Salvation of their Souls ought day and night to turn over this Book and it is impossible but it should produce in them both shame and sorrow for holding Tenets contrary to the Orthodox Faith I am of this Opinion St. G. Consultor of the Congregation de l' Indice Prefect of the Vatican Library Let it be Printed if it so please the Very Reverend Father Master of the Sacred Apostolic Palace J. de Angelis Archiep. Vrb Vicesger Let it be Printed F. Raimundus Capisuccus Ord. Pred S. P. A. Magister The Brief of our Holy Father Pope Innocent the XI VEnerable Brother Health and Apostolical Benediction Your Book of the Exposition of the Catholic Faith lately presented to us contains such Doctrine and is composed in such a method and with so much prudence that it is thereby rendred proper to instruct the Readers clearly in few words and to extort even from the unwilling a Confession of the Catholic Faith For which reasons we do not only think it worthy our commendation but also to be read and esteem'd by all We hope this Work by the Grace of God will bring forth much Fruit and will not a little help to propagate the Orthodox Faith which is our continual care and principal sollicitude And in the interim we are more and more confirmed in that good Opinion we have always had of your Vertue and Piety and we feel an increase of those hopes which we had long since formed in our selves of the Education of the Dauphin of France and that he who is intrusted to your care and endowed with inclinations worthy the King his Father and all his Ancestors will receive from you those instructions which are proper to the Son of a most Christian King whose Birth entitles him both to so flourishing a Kingdom and at the same time to be a Protector of the Catholic Religion And this King who has chosen you amongst so many great men with which France flourishes at this time to so great a Province as is the laying the Foundations of a public happiness will no doubt receive an Eternal Glory from the good success of your care according to that Oracle of Scripture which tells us that a Wise Son is the Glory of his Father Continue then to go forwards chearfully in so important a work especially since you have before your Eyes such mighty Fruits of your Industry For we hear and that from all Parts and we cannot but feel an excess of Joy and Consolation amidst our many Troubles when we hear how this young Prince is carried on to vertue with a noble Fervour and daily gives new Testimonies of Prudence and of Piety This we can assure you that nothing is capable of endearing our Paternal affection to you more than thus to employ your utmost Care to inspire into this young Kings Mind those Maxims which make a mighty King that in a riper Age being happy and victorious like the King his Father he may regulate by Holy Laws and reduce to Christian Manners Barbarous Nations and Enemies of the Name of Christian as we hope to see them shortly subdu'd to the Empire of this great King since Peace being restored to Europe he has so fair an opportunity to transfer his victorious Arms into the East To conclude Assure your self that the Submission and Kespect which your Letters show you to have towards the Apostolic See and Us who now possess it tho unworthy for the Government of the Catholic Church find in Us a mutual affection the Testimonies of which you shall perceive when any occasion shall present it self With a sincere affection we give you our Apostolic Benediction Given at Rome at St. Peters under the Fishers Ring the 4th of January 1679. the third year of our Popedom Signed Marius Spinula and on the outside To our Venerable Brother James Bishop of Condom FINIS
FOR VS No matter for that the Ministers will never believe it They must then raise out of their Catechism and their Confession of Faith these accusations of Idolatry with which they are filled they must retrench in their Sermons so many bloody Invectives which have no other Grounds and this they cannot resolve of and let us make what Declarations we can of our Minds they will neither believe the Council not its Catechism nor our Confession of Faith nor the Bishops nor the Pope himself It is not necessary to repeat here what is said in the Exposition as to other objections Exp. p. 8. and principally as to that where they accuse the Church of attributing to Saints a divine Knowledge and Power whilst she teaches they can neither know nor do any thing of themselves But the accusation of Idolatry has another Foundation which they accuse M. de Condom to have palliated as well as the others And it is the Article concerning Images An. Av. p. 24. where nevertheless he has searched no other Palliations but to expose faithfully the meaning of the Church Rep. p. 65. There needs no more than this to make the very Suspition of Idolatry to vanish according to the Principles of the Pretended Reform'd and they need only in this compare the Doctrine of their own Catechism with that of the Council of Trent represented in the Exposition Their Catechism upon this Commandment Dim 23. Thou shalt not make to thy self any Graven Image Asks whether God forbids the making of any Image And the answer is No but that God forbids only the making of any Image whereby to represent God or to adore it Behold the two things which they think forbidden in this Precept of the Decalogue It may be they will do us the Justice to believe we do not pretend to represent God and that if they see in some Pictures God the Father Painted in that form which he was pleased so often to appear in to his Prophets we pretend no more to derogate from his Invisibile and Spiritual Nature than he himself when he exhibited himself under that form The Council explicates sufficiently to them upon this account Sess 25. that we pretend not thereby to represent or express the Divinity or to give it any Colours and I think I should do them an injury in proceeding to a clearer Proof Let us pass to the second part of their Doctrine and let us learn from their Catechisms what form of Adoration is condemned To Prostrate ones self says the Answer before an Image to pray to it to how the Knee before it or shew some other sign of reverence as if God exhibited himself there to us This is in effect the Errour of the Gentiles and the proper Character of Idolatry But they who believe Expos p. 9 10 11. with the Council That Images have neither Divinity nor Vertue in them for which they ought to be reverenced and who place all the benefit in their recalling the Originals to our remembrance do not believe that God in them exhibits himself to them It is not therefore Idolatry by the consent of the Pretended Reform'd and according to the proper Definition of their Catechism The Anonymus seems to have been sensible of this Truth in that place where objecting this Commandment of the Decalogue he says P. 67. that God forbids to make Images and to worship them He is in the right The words of the Precept are express and the Images there spoken of are those which are forbidden to to be made as well as to be worshiped That is to say according to the explication of his Catechism those which are made to represent God and those which are made to show him present and which are worshipped with the same intention as full of his Divinity We neither make nor suffer any of this nature We do not worship Images God forbid but we make use of Images to put us in mind of the Originals Our Council so odious to the pretended Reform'd Church teaches us no other use of them Is this then enough to make them say as that Church doth in her own Confession of Faith that all sorts of Idolatry are in vogue in the Roman Church Art 28. Is it for this that her Discipline calls us Idolaters and our Religion Idolatry Disc art 11.13 Art 5.2 Without doubt they represent to themselves other things than our Doctrine when they give us the name of Gentiles They believe we follow their abominable Errors and that we believe as they did that God shews himself to us in those Images Had it not been for these mortal Prejudices had it not been for Ideas which they frame to themselves of the sentiments of the Church Christians could never have imagined it so detestable a crime to kiss the Cross in remembrance of him who bore our Iniquities upon the wood nor that so simple and natural a demonstration of those sentiments of tenderness which that Pious Object excites in our hearts ought to make us regarded as if we Adored Baal or the Golden Galves of Samaria During this strange preocupation of the Pretended Reform'd this Treatise of the Exposition might well appear to them which really in effect it did a Book full of Artifice which did nothing but extenuate the Sentiments of Catholicks But now when they see clearly all the Artifice of this Book is to separate the Doctrines which they have imputed to the Church from those which she professes that all the mitigations he makes in Doctrine is that he has taken off that hidious Masque which the Ministers had put upon it let them confess this Church was not worthy of so much horror as they had for her and that at least she deserves to be heard Neither the Pope nor the Sea Apostolick ought to be hereafter accused of diminshing that adoration which is due to God nor that confidence which a Christian ought to establish in his sole goodness through our Lord Jesus Christ since they see without further search this Treatise of the Exposition which is made only to explicate these two Truths has received at Rome and from the Pope himself so Authentick an Approbation After this they will certainly be ashamed of that Title which they give the Pope No one can think on it without horrour nor hear without astonishment that the Pretended Reform'd who boast to follow Scripture word for word when the Apostle St. John who has alone named Antichrist tells us three or four times that Antichrist is he who denies that JESVS CHRIST is come in flesh 2. Joh. 1.7 1 Joh. 2.22.4.3 dare so much as think that he who teaches so fully the Mystery of JESVS CHRIST that is to say his Divinity his Incarnation the superbundance of his Merits the necessity of his Grace and that absolute confidence we must have in it should nevertheless be that Antichrist described by the Apostle But it is
was It remains at present that we beg of God to grant they may read a Work without bitterness which is published only to instruct them The Success is in his hands who can alone touch the heart He knows the limits he has fixt to the Progress of Errour and the miseries of his afflicted Church by the loss of so great a number of her Children But we cannot hinder our selves from hoping some great effects towards the reunion of Christians under a Pope who exercises so piously and with so perfect a zeal free from interest the most holy Function in the World and under a King who prefers before all the Conquests that have enlarged his Kingdom those that might gain him his own Subjects to the Church AN EXPOSITION OF THE DOCTRINE OF THE CHURCH IN MATTERS of CONTROVERSIE SECT I. The Design of this Treatise AFter a Contestation for above an Age with those of the Pretended Reform'd Religion Matters from whence they took the ground of their Separation ought to be sufficiently cleared and their minds disposed to a right conception of the Sentiments of the Catholic Church So that to me nothing seems more proper then to propose her Tenets plainly and simply and to distinguish them right from those which have been falsely imputed to her In effect I have upon several occasions taken notice that the aversion which these Gentlemen have to most of our Sentiments is grounded upon some false Ideas which they have formed to themselves concerning them or else upon some certain words which are so offensive to them that they immediately stop there and never come so far as to consider the grounds of things Upon which account I thought nothing could be more beneficial than to explicate to them what the Church has defined in the Council of Trent concerning those points which keep them at farthest distant from us without medling with that which they are accustomed to object either against particular Doctors or against those Tenets which are neither necessarily nor universally received For all Parties agree and M. Daille himself is of that Opinion Apol. c. 6. that it is a very unreasonable thing to attribute the Sentiments of particular Persons to a whole body and he adds that no separation ought to be but upon the account of Articles authenticly established to the belief and observance of which all Persons are obliged I will not meddle then with any thing but the Decrees of the Council of Trent because in them the Church has given her Decision upon these matters now in agitation and what I shall say for the better understanding of those Decisions shall be what is approved of in the Church and shall manifestly appear conformable to the Doctrine of this Council This Exposition of our Doctrine will produce two good effects The first that many disputes will wholly vanish because it will appear thev are only grounded upon some erroneous explications of our belief The second that those disputes which remain will not appear according to the Principles of the Pretended Reform'd so Capital as at the first they endeavoured to represent them and that according to the same Principles they contain nothing any ways injurious to the grounds of Faith SECT II. Those of the Pretended Reform'd Religion acknowledg That the Catholic Church embraces all the Fundamental Articles of the Christian Religion ANd to begin with the fundamental and principal Articles of Faith these Gentlemen of the Pretended Reform'd Religion must of necessity acknowledge they are believed and professed in the Catholic Church If they will have them to consist in believing that we must adore one only God the Father Son and Holy Ghost and that we must put our trust in God alone through his Son who became man was Crucified and rose again for us they know in their Consciences that we profess this Doctrine and if they add those other Articles which are comprehended in the Apostles Creed they do not doubt also but that we receive them all without exception and that we have a pure and true knowledge of them M. Daille has writ a Treatise intituled Faith founded upon the Scriptures in which after having exposed all the Articles of Faith held by the Pretended Reform'd Churches he tells us they are beyond all contestation Part 3. â— 1. that the Roman Church professes to believe them that in reality they do not hold all our Opinions but that we hold all their Articles of Faith This Minister then cannot unless he destroy his own Faith deny but that we believe all the principal Articles of the Christian Religion But tho' M. Daille had not granted thus much the thing is manifest in it self and all the world knows that we believe all those Articles which Protestants call Fundamental so that sincerity it self demands they should without dispute grant that we have not really rejected any of them The Pretended Reform'd who see the advantages we may draw from this acknowledgment are desirous to deprive us of them by saying that we destroy those Articles by interposing others contrary to them This is what they endeavour to perswade by Consequences drawn from our Doctrine but the same M. Daille whose authority I alledge once more not so much to convince them by the Testimony of one of their most Learned Ministers as because what he says is in it self evident tells them what they ought to think of such kind of Consequences supposing ill ones might be drawn from our Doctrine See what he writes in his Letter to M. Monglat upon account of his Apologie Altho' the Opinion of the Lutherans as well as that of Rome does according to us infer the distruction of the Humanity of JESUS CHRIST yet this Consequence cannot be attributed to them without Calumny seeing they do formally reject it There is nothing more essential to the Christian Religion then the reality of the Human Nature in JESVS CHRIST and yet tho' the Lutherans hold a Doctrine from whence is inferred the destruction of this Capital verity by Consequences which the Pretended Reform'd judge to be evident yet they have not scrupled to offer to Communicate with them because their Opinion has no poyson in it Chap. 7. as M. Daille tells us in his Apologie And their National Synode held at Charenton 1631 admits them to the Holy Table upon this ground that they agree in the principal and Fundamental points of Religion It is then a certain Maxim established amongst them that they must not in these cases look upon the Consequences which may be drawn from a Doctrine but purely upon what he proposes and acknowledges who teaches it So that when they infer by Consequences which they pretend to draw from our Doctrine that we do not sufficiently acknowledg that Soveraign Glory which is due to God nor the quality of Saviour and Mediator in JESVS CHRIST nor the infinite value of his Sacrifice nor the superabundant Plenitude of his Merits we may defend our selves without
Image of an Apostle or a Martyr our intention is not so much to honour the Image Pont. Com. de Bened. Imag. Sess 25. Dec. de Inv. c. as to honour the Apostle or the Martyr in presence of the Image Thus the Roman Pontifical tells us and the Council of Trent expresses the same thing when it say the honour we render to Images has such a reference to those they represent that by the means of those Images which we kiss and before which we kneel we adore JESUS CHRIST and honour the Saints whose Types they are In fine one may know with what intention the Church honours Images by that honour which she renders to the Cross and to the Bible All the world sees very well that before the Cross she adores him who bore our Iniquities upon the wood and that if her children bow the head before the Bible 1 Pet. 2. if they rise up out of respect when it is carried before them and if they kiss it reverently all this honour is referred to the eternal Verity which it proposeth to us They must have but little Justice who treat with the term of Idolatry that Religious Sentiment which moves us to uncover our heads and bow them before the Image of the Cross in remembrance of him who was crucified for the love of us and it would be too much blindness not to perceive the excessive difference betwixt those who put their trust in Idols out of an opinion that some divinity or some vertue was as I may say tyed to them and those who declare as we do that they will not make use of Images but to raise their minds towards heaven to the end they may there honour JESVS CHRIST or his Saints and in the Saints God himself who is the Author of all Sanctity and Grace After the same manner we ought to understand that honour which we pay to Reliques after the example of the Primitive Church and if our Adversaries would but consider that we look upon the bodies of Saints as having been Victimes offered up to God either by Martyrdom or by Penance they would not think the honour which we pay them upon this account could alienate us from that which we render to God himself We may say in general that if they would but consider how the affections which we bear to any one propagates it self without being divided to his children to his friends and after that by several degrees to the representation of him to any remains of him and to any thing which renews in us his remembrance If they did but conceive that honour has the like progression seeing honour is nothing else but Love mixed with respect and Fear in fine If they would but consider that all the exteriour worship of the Catholic Church has its source in God himself and returns back again to him they would never believe that this worship which he himself alone animates could excite his Jealousie They would on the contrary see that if God as Jealous as he is of the love of men does not look upon us as dividing our selves betwixt him and Creatures when we love our neighbour for the love of him the same God tho Jealous of the honour which his faithful pay him cannot look upon them as dividing that worship which is due to him alone when out of respect to him they honour those whom he had honoured It is true nevertheless that seeing the sensible marks of reverence are not all of them absolutely necessary the Church might without the least alteration in her doctrine extend these exteriour practices more or less according to the different exigences of times places or occurrences being desirous that her Children should not be slavishly subject to sensible things but only excited and as it were advertised by their means to fly to God and to offer up to him in Spirit and in the truth that rational service which he expects from his creatures One may see by this doctrine how truly I affirmed that a great part of our Controversies would vanish by the sole understanding of the Terms if these points were but discussed with charity and if our adversaries would but with moderation consider the foregoing Explications which comprehend the express doctrine of the Council of Trent they would cease to accuse us of injuring the mediation of JESVS CHRIST of Invocating the Saints and adoring Images after a manner which is peculiar to God alone It is true that seeing in one sense Adoration Invocation and the name of Mediator are only proper to God and JESVS CHRIST it is no hard matter to misapply these terms whereby to render our doctrine odious But if they be strictly kept to that sence in which we use them these objections and accusations will lose their force and if any other less important difficulties remain to these gentlemen of the pretended Reform'd Religion sincerity will oblige them to acknowledg they are satisfied as to the principal subject of their complaints Furthermore there is nothing so unjust as to accuse the Church of placing all her piety in these devotions to the Saints seeing as we have already observed Sess 25. Dec. de Inv. c. the Council of Trent contents it self to teach the Faithful that this practice is good and beneficial without saying any more of it So that the intention of the Church is only to condemn those who reject this practice either out of disrespect or Error She is obliged to condemn them because She is obliged not to suffer any practice which is beneficial to salvation to be despised nor a doctrine authorised by antiquity to be condemned by novellists SECT VI. Justification THE doctrine of Justification will shew yet more clearly how many difficulties may be ended by a plain exposition of our sentiments Those who are never so little versed in the history of the pretended Reformation are not ignorant that the first Authors proposed this Article to all the world as the principal of all the rest and as the most essential cause of their seperation So this is the most necessary to be well understood We believe in the first place that Our sins are freely forgiven us by the divine mercy Conc. Trid. Sess 6. c. 9. for JESVS CHRIST's sake These are the express terms of the Council of Trent which adds that we are said to be justified gratis Ibid. c. 8. because none of those acts which precede Justification whether they be Faith or good works can merit this Grace Seeing the Scripture explicates the remission of sins by sometimes telling us that God covers them and sometimes that he takes them away Tit. 3.5 6 7. and blots them out by the Grace of his Holy Spirit which makes us new creatures we believe that to form a perfect Idea of the Justification of a sinner we must joyn together both these Expressions For which reason we believe our sins not only to be covered but also
a Power which has Dominion over universal Nature The Son of God has no more difficulty to render his Body present in the Eucharist by saying This is my Body than to Cure a Woman of her Infirmity Luc. 13.12 by saying Woman thou art freed from thy Infirmity or to preserve the Life of a young Man by saying to his Father John 4.50 Thy Son liveth or to forgive the Sins of the Man sick of the Palsy Mat. 9.2 by saying to him Thy Sins are forgiven thee So that not troubling our selves how he will execute what he has said we rest precisely upon his words He who does what he will by speaking does what he pleases and it was more easy for the Son of God to force the Laws of Nature to verify his word than it is for us to accommodate our Understandings to these kind of violent Interpretations which break the Laws of common Discourse These Laws of Discourse teach us that a sign which represents a thing naturally receives often the name of the thing represented being as it were its nature to bring the Idea of the thing into the Mind The same also happens tho with some restriction to instituted Signs when they are received and Persons accustomed to them But that in establishing a Sign which has no relation to the thing as for example a Morsel of Bread to signify the Body of a Man the name of the thing signified should be given to it with out any Explication and before any agreement as JESVS CHRIST has done in his last Supper is a thing unheard of and of which we find no example in holy Writ not to say in any Language Neither do the Gentlemen of the Pretended Reform'd Religion so fix themselves to the figurative Sense which they would give to these words of JESVS CHRIST but that they do at the same time acknowledge he had intention in pronouncing them to give us in reality his Body and Blood SECT XI Explication of these Words Do this in remembrance of me AFter having proposed the Sentiments of the Church touching these words This is my Body we must explicate what she thinks of those others which JESVS CHRIST added Do this in remembrance of me It is manifest the intention of the Son of God is to oblige us by these words Luc. 22.19 to remember the Death which he has endured for our Salvation 1 Cor. 1â— 24 and St. Paul concludes from these same words that we declare the Death of our Saviour in this Mystery But they must not perswade themselves 2 Cor. 11.26 that remembrance of our Saviours Death excludes the real Presence of his Body on the contrary if they consider what we have lately explicated they will clearly understand this Commemoration to be grounded upon the real Presence For as the Jews in eating of the Peace-Offerings remembred they had been immolated for them in the same manner in eating of the flesh of JESVS CHRIST our Victim we ought to remember he died for us This very flesh then eaten by the Faithful not only renews in us the memory of his immolation but confirms also to us the reality of it And we are so far from having reason to say that this solemn Commemoration which JESVS CHRIST ordains us to make excludes the Presence of his Body that on the contrary we see this tender remembrance which he would have us to make at the Holy Table of him as immolated for us is grounded upon this that this very flesh ought to be there taken really seeing in effect it is not possible for us to forget it was for us he gave his Body in Sacrifice when we see he daily gives us the same Victime to eat Must Christians under pretence of celebrating in the Lords Supper the memory of the Passion of our Saviour deprive this Pious Commemoration of what it has most efficacious and tender in it Ought they not to consider that JESVS CHRIST does not command them only to remember him but to remember him in eating of his Flesh and Blood Consider the Connexion and the force of his words He does not say simply as those of the Pretended Reformation seem to understand him That the Bread and Wine of the Eucharist should be to us a Memorial of his Body and Blood but he advertises us that in doing what he has prescribed that is in receiving his Body and Blood we should remember him What is there in reality more powerful to make us remember him And if Children do so tenderly remember their Parents and their Bounties towards them when they approach the Tombs where their Bodies are interred how ought our Remembrance and our Love to be excited when we possess under these sacred Vails under this mystical Sepulchre this living and Life-giving Flesh and this Blood yet flowing with his Love and full of Spirit and Grace But if our Adversaries continue to tell us That he who commands us to remember him does not give us his proper Substance we must in fine desire them to agree amongst themselves They profess not to deny the real Communication of the proper substance of the Son of God in the Eucharist If their words are serious if their Doctrine be not an illusion they must necessarily say with us the remembrance does not exclude all kinds of Presence but only that which strikes the Senses Their Answer shall be ours seeing that tho we affirm JESVS CHRIST to be present yet we acknowledg at the same time that he is not present after a sensible manner And if it should be demanded how it comes to pass that believing as we do the Senses to have nothing to do in this Mystery we should not believe it sufficient that JESVS CHRIST should be present by Faith It is easie to answer and to clear this Equivocal Objection It is one thing to say the Son of God is present to us by Faith and another thing to say we know by Faith that he is present The first manner of speaking imports only a moral presence but the second signifies to us a very real one because our Faith is most real and this real Presence known by Faith Habac. 2.4 is sufficient to work all the forementioned Effects in the Just Man who lives by Faith SECT XII Exposition of the Calvanists Doctrine concerning the real Presence BUT to remove all the Equivocations which Calvinists make use of in this matter and show at the same time how near they have approached to us it will be convenient to add here the exposition of their Sentiments tho I only undertook to explicate the Doctrine of the Church Their Doctrine has two parts the one speaks of nothing but the Figure and the other of nothing but the Reality of the Body and Blood We shall see each of these parts in order They tell us first This great Miracle of the real Presence which we admit is useless that it is enough for our Salvation JESVS