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
flock in his paths which those who love Concord amongst Brethren and Ecclesiastical Unanimity will most willingly acknowledg And certainly if the Authors of the Pretended Reformation had loved Unity they would neither have abolished Episcopal Government which was established by JESVS CHRIST himself and which we find in force even in the times of the Apostles nor have despised the Authority of St. Peter's Chair which has so solid a Foundation in the Gospel and so evident a succession in Tradition but they would rather have carefully conserved Episcopal Authority which establisheth unity in particular Churches and the Primacy of St. Peter's Chair which is the common Center of all Catholic Unity SECT XXII Conclusion of this Treatise THIS is the Exposition of the Catholic Doctrine in which that I might tye my self to the most principal I have left some questions untouched which those of the Pretended Reform'd Religion do not look upon as lawful matter for a Separation I hope those of their Communion who shall impartially examin all the Parts of this Treatise will be better disposed by the reading of it to give ear to those proofs upon which the Faith of the Church is established and will in the mean time acknowledg many of our Controversies may be ended by a sincere explication of our Tenets that her Doctrine is Holy and that according to their own Principles no one of her Articles destroys the grounds of Salvation If any one should think fit to answer this Treatise he is desired to consider that to accomplish his intent he must not undertake to refute the Doctrine contained in it seeing my Design was only to propose it without going about to prove it and that if in some Places I have hinted at some of the reasons which establish it it is because the knowledg of the principal reasons of a Doctrine is often a necessary part of it's Explication It would also be a quitting of the design of this Treatise to examin the different methods which Catholic Divines make use of to establish or explicate the Doctrine of the Council of Trent and the different Consequences which particular Doctors have drawn from it To urge any thing solid against this Treatise and which may come home to the point it must be proved that the Churches Faith is not here faithfully expounded and that by Acts which the same Church has obliged herself to receive or else it must be shown that this Explication leaves all the Objections in their full force and all the Disputes untouched or in fine it must be precisely shown in what this Doctrine subverts the Foundations of Faith Lettre de Monseigneur le Cardinal BONA a Monseigneur le Card. de BUILLON HO ricevnto il libro di Monsignor Vescovo di Condom che V. E. si è degnata inviarmi e sì come Conosco la qualità del favore emâ—ne pregio cosi rendo alla sua gentilezza infinite gratie e per il dono e per il pensiero che si pronde di acorescere la mia Libraria L'hò letto con attentione particolare e perche V E. mi accenna che alcuni lo accusano di qualche mancamento hò voluto particolarmente osservare in che potesse esser ripreso Mà realmente non sò trovarci se non materia di grandissima lode perche senza entrare nelle questioni spinose delle controversie conuna maniera ingegnosa facile e famigliare e con metodo per così dire geometrica da certi principii communi approvati convince i Calvenisti e li necessita à consessare la verità della Fede Cattolica Assicuro V. E. di haverlo letto con mia indicibile sodisfattione nè mi maraviglio chegli habbino trovato à dire perche tutte le Opere grandi e che sormontano l'ordinario sempre hanno contradittori Vince però finalmente la verità e da'frutti si conosce la qualità dell'albero Me ne rallegre con l' Autore il quale hà dato saggio del suo gran talento con questa a opera e potrà con molte altre servire lodevolmente à Santa Chiesa Roma 19. Gennaro 1672. Lettre de Monseigneur le Cardinal SIGISMOND CHIG la Monsieur L'Abbé de DANGEAU RICEVEI con la sua lettera ill Libro della Espositione della Dottrina Cattolica del Vescovo di Condom molto erudito e molto utile per convertire gl heretici più con le vive ragioni che con l'asprezza del discorso Parlai al Padre Mastro di S. Palazzo al Segretario dell ' Congregatione dell Indice e conobbi veramente che non viera stato chi havesse a questi Padri parlato in disfavore del medesimo Anzi li trovai pieni di estimatione per il medesimo havendo poi parlato con questi Signori Cardinali della Congregatione trovai frà gl'altri il Signor Cardinale Brancaccio molto inclinato a pregiarlo e molto propenso a lodarne l'Autore Onde io tengo certo che qua ancora Monsignor di Condom ottenga quella lode che e dovuta alla sua fatica alla sua dottrina Resto per tanto obligato alla sua gentilezza che mi ha dato modo di ammirar la medesima mentre mi pare che l'Autore string a bene i suoi argomenti e mostri chiaro i punti nei quali i divisi discordano della Chieza ne credo che il modo che tien l'Autore sia da condannarsi nell'esplicatione di qualche Dottrina insegnata dal Concilio di Trento essendo praticato da molti Scrittori essendo da lui maneggiato molto regolatamente in oltre che l'Autore non ha havuto in mente d'inte pretare i dogmi di quel Concilio ma solo importarlinel suo libro esplicati perche gl'heretici restino convinti in chiaro di tutto quello che la Santa Chiesa gl'obliga di credere Dell'autorita del Papa ne parlabene e con il dovnto rispetto della Sede Romana ogni volià che parla del capo visibile della Chiesa onde torno à dire che non e capace che di lode Roma 5. Aprile 1672. Lettre du Reverendiss Pere HYACINTHE LIBELLI alors Maistre du Sacre Palais maintenant Archevesque d'Avignon a Monseigneur le Cardinal SIGISMOND CHIGI HO letto il Libro del Sig. di Condom continente l'Espositione dellae Dottrina della Chiesa Devo infinite gratie à V. E. che mi habbia fatte consumare quattro hore di tempo sì virtuo samente e con tanto mio diletro Mi è piacciuto sopra modo e per l'Argomento singolare e per le prove che à quello correspondono La Dottrina è tutta sana ne v'ha embra di mancamento No per me sò quello che possa opporvisi e se l'Autore desidererà che si ristamp in Roma da me otterrÃ
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
himself to those which the Pretended Reform'd find the greatest The Anonymus himself tells us the Invocation of Saints is one of the most essential Articles of Religion and at the same time he adds P. 61. this is one of those upon which M. de Condom has been most prolix What points are more exactly treated in the Exposition than those of the Eucharist and the Sacrifice that of Images of Merit of Good works of Satisfaction And is it not in these the Pretended Reform'd find the greatest difficulties In fine we will ask even themselves whether it be not true that if they were satisfied in all those points treated of in the Exposition they would no longer hesitate to embrace the Faith of the Church It is therefore certain the Author has treated all those Capital points upon which both of us agree the greatest difficulties move Nay more he has always fixed himself to the principal knot of the difficulty seeing he applies himself chiefly according to his first promise to those parts where the Catholic Doctrine is accused to strike at the Foundations of Faith and Christian Piety It is not therefore to avoid difficulties he has left some questions untouched which are but Consequences and fuller Explications of those which he has handled or at least are such as disturb no body But on the contrary he has done it to the end he might apply himself with less distraction to the chief difficulties upon which depend the Decision of our Controversies The Author of the Exposition has been no less Faithful in performance of his fourth promise which was to affirm nothing to make the Council to be better understood which was not manifestly conformable to it and approved of in the Church The Anonymus looks upon these words Exp. p. 2. and all the design of the Exposition as a Testimony which shows the Doctrine of the Roman Church though explained so clearly and decided in the Council of Trent not yet so clear An. rep p. 11. but that it needs an explication M. Noguier seems also to draw the same Consequence Nog p. 39.40 and they have both of them looked upon the Exposition as an explication which the obscurity of the Council stood in need of But we know how the obscurity of a Decision especially in matters of Faith is not always that which makes it to be taken in a wrong sence it is a preoccupation of mind the ardour of dispute the heat of Persons engaged which make them not understand one another and often attribute to an adversary what he believes the least So that when the Author of the Exposition proposes the Decisions of the Council of Trent to the Pretended Reform'd and adds what may be useful to remove those Impressions which hinder them from understanding them aright they ought not to conclude from thence that the Decisions are Ambiguous but only that nothing is so well digested nor so clear but may be understood amiss when prejudice and passion interpose To what purpose then do M. Noguier and the Anonymus object to the Author of the Exposition the Bull of Pope Pius IV. An. p. 10. Nog p. 40. The design of the Exposition has nothing of those Glosses and Commentaries which with great reason this Pope Condemned For what did those Commentators and Glossars especially those who have writ Glosses upon the Laws what did they for the most part but fill the margents with their own imaginations which most commonly serve only to confound the Text and which notwithstanding they give for the Text it self Let us add that for the conservation of Unity this Pope was obliged not to permit every Doctor to propose Decisions upon doubts which succeeding time and vain subtilties might give birth to Nor has any thing of this nature been done in the Exposition It is one thing to interpret what is obscure and doubtful another to propose what is clear and to make use of it to remove false impressions The last is what the Author of the Exposition has endeavour'd precisely And if he have added some of his own Reflexions to the Decisions of this Council to make them more intelligible to those people who would never look upon them without prejudice it is because their preocupation had need of such an assistance But why should we speak any more of a thing which is clear nough We have in few words given a certain method to enlighten the understandings of those who are the most zealous to maintain this ambiguity of the Council They need only read in this Exposition its Decrees which are there produced and convince themselves by their own eyes What is here the most important is that the Author of the Exposition was not deceived when he promised what he should say for the better understanding of this Council should be manifestly of the same Spirit and approved of in the Church The matter is in it self clear and the following Approbations will make it apparent It must not therefore be suppos'd henceforwards that the Sentiments explained in this work are the qualifying or the extenuating thoughts of one man but the Common Doctrine which we see is for this reason universally approved It will not therefore avail M. Noguires nor the Anonymus any thing after this An. p. 2. c. Nog 38 c. either to object to us those Practices which they call general or the particular opinion of Doctors For without examining these unnecessary things it suffices in one word to say those Practises and Opinions be they what they will which are not found to be conformable to the intent and Decisions of the Council are nothing to Religion nor to the body of the Catholic Church Exp. p. 2. Daille Apol. c. 6. pag. 8. nor ought by consequence as the Pretended Reform'd do themselves avouch give the least pretence to separate from us because no one is obliged either to approve or follow them But say they those abuses ought to be suppressed as if one of the ways to suppress them were not to shew the truth in its purity without prejudice to the other means with which Prudence and Zeal may inspire the Bishops As for the remedy of Schism practised by the pretended Reformers if it were not detestable in it self the miseries which it has caused and does at present cause throughout Christendom would give us a horrour of it I will not here reproach the Pretended Reform'd with the abuses which are amongst them This work of Charity does not permit such like Recriminations It suffices I advertise them that to attaque us in reality they must combat not those abuses which we Condemn as well as they but the Doctrines which we maintain But if in examining them more narrowly they find they give not scope enough to their invectives they ought at last to acknowledge we have reason to tell them the Faith which we profess is less worthy of blame than they believed it
difficulty from such Consequences by this short answer of M. Daille and tell them that the Catholic Church disavowing them they cannot be imputed to her without Calumny But I will go yet further and show these Gentlemen of the Pretended Reform'd Religion by the sole Exposition of our Doctrine that the Catholic Church is so far from ruining the Fundamental Articles of Faith either directly or indirectly that on the contrary she establishes them after so solid and evident a manner that no one can question her right understanding of them without great injustice SECT III. Religious Worship is terminated in God alone TO begin with that Adoration which is due to God alone the Catholic Church teaches us that it consists principally in believing he is the Creator and Lord of all things and in adhering to him with all the Powers of our Soul by Faith Hope and Charity as to him alone who can render us happy by the Communication of an infinite Good which is himself This interiour Adoration which we render to God in Spirit and in Truth has its exteriour marks of which the principal is Sacrifice which cannot be offered to any but to God because a Sacrifice is established to make a publick acknowledgment and a solemn protestation of Gods Soveraignity and our absolute dependance The same Church teaches us that all Religious worship ought to terminate in God as its necessary end and that if the honour which she renders to the Blessed Virgin and to the Saints may in some sence be called Religious it is for its necessary Relation to God But before we explicate any further in what this honour consists it will not be unuseful to take notice how those of the Pretended Reformation obliged by the strength of truth begin to acknowledge that the custom of praying to Saints and honouring their Reliques was established even in the fourth age of the Church Monsieur Daille grants thus much in that book he published against the Tradition of the Latin Church about the object of Religious worship and accuses St. Basil St. Ambrose St. Hierome St. John Chrysostom St. Augustin and many more of those famous Lights of Antiquity who lived in that Age and above all St. Gregory Nazianzen who is called the Divine by excellence of having altered in this point the Doctrine of the three foregoing ages But it will not appear very likely that M. Daille should understand the Sentiments of the Fathers of the first three Ages better then those who gathered as I may say the succession of their Doctrine after their deaths and this will be so much the less credible because the Fathers of the fourth Age were so far from perceiving that they introduced any novelty in that worship that this Minister on the contrary has quoted several express Texts by which he shows clearly that they pretended in Praying to Saints to follow the example of their Predecessors But without any further examination what might be the Sentiments of the Fathers of the three first ages I will content my self with what M. Daille is pleased to grant who allows us so many great men who taught the Church in the fourth age For tho' he has taken upon him twelve hundred years after their deaths to give them in derision the name of a kind of Sect calling them Reliquarists that is to say Relique honourers yet I hope those of his Communion will have more respect for these great men They dare not at least accuse them of falling into Idolatry by praying to Saints or of destroying that trust which Christians ought to put in JESVS CHRIST and it is to behoped henceforwards they will not reproach these things to us when they consider they cannot do it without accusing at the same time these excellent men whose sanctity and learning they profess a reverence for as well as we But seeing our design is here to expound our belief rather then to show who were the defenders of it we must continue our explication SECT IV. Invocation of Saints THe Church in teaching us that it is profitable to pray to Saints teaches us to pray to them in the same Spirit of Charity and according to the same order of fraternal society which moves us to demand assistance of our brethren living upon Earth and the Catechism of the Council of Trent concludes from this Doctrine that if the quality of Mediator Cat. Rom. part 3. tit De Cultu Invoc Sanct. which the Scripture gives to JESVS CHRIST received any prejudice from the Intercession made to the Saints who Reign with God it would receive no less from the Intercession made to the faithful who live with us This Catechism shows us clearly the extream difference betwixt our manner of imploring God's assistance and that of imploring the aid of Saints For saith it we pray to God either to give us good things Part 4. tit Quis orandus sit or to deliver us from evil but because the Saints are more acceptable to him than we are we beg of them to undertake our cause and to obtain for us those things we stand in need of From whence it comes to pass that we use two very different forms of Prayer for to God the proper manner of speaking is to say HAVE PITY ON VS HEAR OVR PRAYER whereas we only desire the Saints TO PRAY FOR VS From whence we ought to understand that in what Terms soever those prayers which we address to Saints are couched the intention of the Church and of her faithful reduces them always to this form as the Catechism presently after confirms Ibid. But it is good to consider the words of the Council it self which prescribing to Bishops how they ought to speak of the Invocation of Saints Sess 25. Dec. de Invoc c. obliges them to teach that the Saints who reign with JESUS CHRIST offer up to God their prayers for men that it is good and profitable to invocate them after an humble manner and to have recourse to their prayers aid and assistance to obtain of God his Benefits through our Lord JESUS CHRIST his Son who is our sole Saviour and Redeemer After which the Council condemns those who teach a contrary Doctrine We see then to invocate the Saints according to the sense of this Council is to have recourse to their prayers for obtaining benefits from God through JESVS CHRIST So that in reality we do not obtain those benefits which we receive by the intercession of the Saints otherwise then through JESVS CHRIST and in his name seeing these Saints themselves pray in no other manner than through JESVS CHRIST and are not heard but in his name This is the Faith of the Church which the Council of Trent has clearly explicated in few words After which we cannot imagine that any one should accuse us of forsaking JESVS CHRIST when we beseech his members who are also ours his Children who are our Brethren and his Saints who are
naturally form in the minds of the Faithful give us nothing but the Ideas of his real presence Therefore it was necessary our adversaries should find out some expressions the sound of which might at least give us a confused Idea of this reality When a Man fixes himself either entirely upon Faith as Catholicks do or entirely upon humane Reason as Infidels do it is easie for him to establish a connected and uniform model of Doctrine But when a man goes about to make a composition of one and the other he always says something which he would not say and afterwards falls into opinions the sole contrarieties of which shew the manifest falsity of them This is what has hapned to these Gentlemen of the pretended reform'd Religion and God has so permitted it to facilitate their return to Catholic unity For whereas their proper experience shows them they must necessarily express themselves as we do to speak the language of Truth ought they not to judge it necessary to think as we do to understand it right If they observe in their own belief many expressions which have no sence but according to our tenets is it not sufficient to convince them that Truth is not in its full perfection but amongst us And those unconnected parts of Catholick Doctrine which are scatered here and there in their Catechisms but which as I may say require to be united to the whole ought they not to excite them to search in the Communion of the Church a full and entire explication of the Mystery of the Eucharist They would no doubt of it be brought to it did not humane Reflections trouble and perplex their Faith which has too much dependance upon Sence But having shown what Fruit they ought to reap from the Exposition of their Doctrine let us finish the explication of our own SECT XIII Of Transubstantiation and Adoration and in what sence the Eucharist is said to be a Sign IT having been convenient as it was said before that the Senses should not perceive any thing in this Mystery of Faith it was necessary nothing should be changed in respect of them in the Bread and Wine of the Eucharist Upon which account being we see the same Species and feel the same Effects as before in this Sacrament we must not wonder if the same name be given to them sometimes and in some certain Sense Yet notwithstanding Faith being attentive to his word who performs what pleases him in Heaven and on Earth acknowledges here no other Substance but what is designed by the same word that is to say the proper Body and Blood of JESVS CHRIST into which the Bread and Wine are changed this is what we call Transubstantiation However That real verity which is interiorly contained in the Eucharist hinders not the exterior and sensible part from being a sign but a sign of such a Nature that it is so far from excluding the reality of the thing signified it bears it necessarily along with it seeing that in effect these words This is my Body pronounc'd upon that matter which JESVS CHRIST himself made choice of is to us a certain sign that his Body is present and though the Symbols appear always the same to our Senses yet our Mind judges otherwise of them and not according to Sense because a Superior Authority interposes So that whereas certain Species and a certain sequel of natural impressions on our Senses have been accustomed to design to us the substance of Bread and Wine the Authority of Him in whom we believe causes these same Species to begin to shew us another substance For we give ear to him who said that this which we receive and eat is his Body and such is the force of these words they hinder us from referring those exteriour appearances to the Substance of Bread and induced us to refer them to the Body of JESVS CHRIST there present Insomuch that the presence of such an adorable Object being rendered certain to us by this sign we are not afraid to pay it our adorations I will not dwell upon the point of Adoration because the most learned and the most intelligent of our Adversaries have long since granted us those who are perswaded of the real Presence of JESVS CHRIST in the Eucharist ought to pay him in it their Adorations In fine being once convinced the all-powerful words of the Son of God operate whatever they declare we believe that in the last Supper they had their effect as soon as they were pronounced by him and by a necessary Consequence we acknowledg the real Presence of his Body before our receiving of it SECT XIV Sacrifice of the Mass THese things being supposed there remains no particular difficulty about the Sacrifice which we acknowledg in the Eucharist We have observed two actions in this Mystery which cease not to be distinct the one of them has a Relation to the other The first is the consecration by which the Bread and Wine are changed into the Body and Blood and the second is the receiving by which we partake of them In the Consecration the Body and the Blood are mystically seperated because JESVS CHRIST said separately This is my Body this is my Blood which includes a lively and efficacious Representation of the violent Death he suffered So that the Son of God is placed upon the Holy Table in vertue of these words cloathed with those signs which represent his Death this is effected by consecration and this Religious action carries with it an acknowledgment of Gods Soveraignty in as much as JESVS CHRIST there present renews and perpetuates in some sort the remembrance of his being obedient even to the Death of the Cross So that there is nothing wanting to render this a true Sacrifice We cannot doubt but this Action as distinct from that of Communicating is of it self acceptable to God and makes him look upon us with a more propitious Eye because it represents to him that voluntary Death which his beloved Son has suffered for us Sinners or rather places before his Eyes that very Son of his under the signs of this Death by which his Wrath had been appeased All Christians will confess the sole Presence of JESVS CHRIST to be a most Powerful Intercession before God for all mankind according to the saying of the Apostle That JESVS CHRIST presents himself and appears for us before the Face of God Heb. 9.24 So that we believe that JESVS CHRIST being present upon the Holy Table under this Figure of Death intercedes for us and represents continually to his Father that Death which he has suffered for his Church It is in this Sense we say JESVS CHRIST offers up himself to God for us in the Eucharist it is after this manner we conceive this Oblation renders God more propitious to us and therefore we call this a Propitiatory Sacrifice When we consider what it is JESVS CHRIST operates in this Mystery and that we see him
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
the Holy Fathers expressions Now to imagine this manner by which JESVS CHRIST presents himself to God should injure the Sacrifice of the Cross is what cannot in any kind be supposed without overthrowing the the whole Scripture and particularly this Epistle which is so vehemently objected against us For it must by the same reason be concluded that when JESVS CHRIST offered up himself to God In entring into the World Heb. 10.5 to substitute himself in place of those Victims which could not please him he injured that Action by which he offered up himself upon the Cross Heb. 9.24 that when he continues to appear before God for us Heb. 9.26 he weakens that Oblation by which he appeared once Heb. 7.25 by the immolation of himself and that not ceasing to interceed for us he accuses of insufficiency that intercession which he made in dying with so many tears and such an exclamation Heb. 5.7 All this would be ridiculous We must therefore understand that JESVS CHRIST who once offered up himself to be the humble Victim of the Divine Justice does not cease to offer up himself always for us that the infinite perfection of the Sacrifice of the Cross consists in this that whatsoever preceded it as well as what follows it has an entire reference to it that as what preceded it was a preparation to it so that which follows it is the consummation and application of it that in reality the payment of the price of our Redemption is no more reiterated because it was fully discharged the first time but that what applies that Redemption to us continues without ceasing that lastly we must make a distinction betwixt those things which are reiterated as imperfect and those which are continued as perfect and necessary SECT XVI Reflections upon the preceding Doctrine WE conjure all those of the Pretended Reformation to make some little Reflection upon what has been said concerning the Eucharist The Doctrine of the Real Presence has been the necessary foundation of it This Foundation is impugned by the Calvinists There is nothing appears more important than this in our Controversies seeing the Question is concerning the real Presence of JESVS CHRIST himself There is nothing our Adversaries find more difficult to believe And there is nothing in which we are so directly opposite as in this In most other Disputes when these Gentlemen hear us with Calmness they find the difficulties to vanish and that they are more offended with words than with the things themselves On the contrary upon this Subject we agree more about the manner of speaking because both sides use the words of Real Participation and the like But the fuller we explicate our selves the more we find our selves opposed because our Adversaries do not receive all the consequences of those truths which they admit being discouraged as I said by the difficulties which Sence and Human Reason find in these consequences This is therefore to speak truly the most difficult of all our Controversies and that in which we are the most opposite to one another Nevertheless God has permitted the Lutherans should adhere to the belief of the real Presence as well as we and he has also permitted the Calvinists should declare this Doctrine to have no poison in it that it does not subvert the foundations of Salvation and Faith and that it ought not to break communion betwixt Brethren Let those of the Pretended Reform'd Religion who think seriously of their Salvation render themselves here attentive to that Order which the Divine Providence makes use of to bring them insensibly nearer to us and Truth One may either intirely dissipate all the other grounds of their complaints or at least reduce them to very few Heads with a little explication In this where we cannot hope to conquer by this Method they have themselves removed the chief difficulty by declaring this Doctrine to contain nothing in it contrary to Salvation or to the fundamentals of Religion It is true the Lutherans tho they concur with us in the ground of the reality yet admit not all the consequences of it They put Bread together with the Body of JESVS CHRIST some of them reject the Adoration and they seem to acknowledg the real Presence only in the Act of receiving But all the subtilty of the Ministers can never perswade ingenuous and understanding Persons but that if they maintain the real Presence which is the most important and the most difficult point they ought also to maintain the rest Moreover the same Providence which labours secretly for our nearer Union and lays the foundations of Reconciliation and of Peace in the midst of Bitterness and Disputes has farther permitted the Calvinists to allow that supposing these words This is my Body ought to be taken in a literal sence Catholics reason better and more consequently than the Lutherans If I relate not the passages which have been so often cited on this account I hope I shall easily be excused because all those who are not obstinate will grant us without difficulty that the reeal Presence being supposed our Doctrine is that which most naturally follows It is then an established Truth that our Doctrine in this point contains nothing but the real Presence rightly understood But we must not stop there and we beseech the Pretended Reformed to consider we make use of no other things to explicate the Sacrifice of the Eucharist but only such as are necessarily included in this reality of presence If it should be asked us after this how it comes then to pass the Lutherans who believe the real presence should nevertheless reject the Sacrifice which is according to us only a consequence of it our answer is in one word that this Doctrine must be numbred amongst the other consequences of the real presence which these Lutherans have not understood and which we have penetrated much better then they as the Calvinists themselves confess If our Explications persuade these last that our doctrine about the Sacrifice is included in that of the real presence they ought to see clearly that this mighty dispute of the Sacrifice of the Mass which has filled so many Volumes and occasioned so many Invectives ought from henceforwards to be retrenched from the body of their controversies because this point has not now any particular difficulty and which is much more important because this Sacrifice against which they have so great repugnance is no other but a necessary consequence and a natural explication of a Doctrine which according to them has no venom in it Let them now examin themselves and after this try before God whether they have so much reason as they imagine to withdraw themselves from those Altars where their fore-fathers received the Bread of life SECT XVII Communion under both kinds THere remains one other Consequence of this doctrine to be examined which is that JESVS CHRIST being really present in the Sacrament The Grace and Benediction is
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