Selected quad for the lemma: doctrine_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
doctrine_n	church_n	council_n	trent_n	4,509	5	10.5965	5	true

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A49888	A pastoral letter of the Lord Cardinal Le Camus, bishop and Prince of Grenoble to the curats of his diocess touching the methods they ought to take, and in what manner they should behave themselves towards their new converts : faithfully translated from the original in French.	Le Camus, Etienne, 1632-1707.	1687 (1687)	Wing L806; ESTC R11622	3,493	10

A Pastoral Letter Of the Lord CARDINAL Le CAMUS BISHOP and PRINCE OF GRENOBLE To the CURATS of his DIOCESS Touching the METHODS they ought to take and in what Manner they should behave Themselves towards Their NEW CONVERTS Faithfully Translated from the Original in French. London Printed by Nath. Thompson at the Entrance into the Old-Spring-Garden near Charing-Cross Anno Domini MDCLXXXVII ALthough I have already declar'd in Our last Synod the Means you ought to Use and in what Manner you should treat the New Converts of my Diocess Nevertheless I have thought good to signify more particularly to you here the principal Things which will require your best Attention and most serious Application I. LEt it be one part of your Duties to Explicate every Sunday the Gospel or the Epistle of the Day having first read it distinctly in French out of the time of Service And that you may be the more able to Instruct them to their Advantage apply your selves earnestly to the Study of the Holy Scriptures making use of some good Commentary that will Explicate the Text to you both in the Literal and the Moral Sense II. Make it your Business on Sundays and Holy-Days to Catechize your Parishoners by Question and Answer Obliging your New-Converts to bring their Children and Servants And omit not to say Prayers in French both Morning and at Night on Sundays and Holy-Days III. Have a Care you do not lessen by a mistaken Condescention the Holy Doctrine of the Church or disguise the Truths which She proposes to our Belief under the specious pretext of making the way Easier for the New-Converts to enter into our Communion On the other side it must be your equal Care to Teach them Nothing but those Vndoubted Truths which are of Faith and which the Holy Church hath desided in the Council of Trent You are likewise to take heed that you do not Mix or Confound the School Opinions with the real Doctrine of the Church IV. Endeavour to Vndeceive them of the many false Opinions and the Prejudices they are possess'd with against the Roman Catholick Church by making them Sensible that We give to God only the Supream Honour of a True and Real Adoration and that We place all our Trust and Hopes solely in the Merits of Jesus Christ and not in any Pictures or Reliques of Saints and that it is no part of our Faith to believe there is any Inherent Virtue or particular Blessing annex'd to those Pictures or Reliques V. Suffer not any one to Preach Vp or Maintain in your Parishes any Fabulous or Groundless Miracles or that they speak of Indulgences in any other Sense than the Council of Trent hath declar'd them Let nothing be Preach'd by your selves or others but the Solid and Substantial Truths of the Gospel in its Natural and Original Purity Expressing it still with all the Clearness the subject-matter can possibly allow VI. Endeavour as much as in you lyes that every New-Convert perform his Duty as a good Catholick ought to do But be sure you avoid all manner of Violence or Compulsion to them since God admits to his Service only the free and voluntary Acts of a willing Mind Wherefore you must be very Careful you use no Threats or Sharp Expressions in your Sermons or Discourses to them when you Exhort them to frequent your Churches or Receive the Sacraments VII Incline them all you can to assist daily at the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass but leave no Spie● or Inspectors at the Church doors to inform against those that come not And make not too severe and rigorous a Distinction betwixt those that have done their Duty and those that have omitted it VIII You are never to Administer the Sacraments to them till you are satisfied in your Conscience that they are well dispos'd to receive them which can never be till they have declar'd to you that they do firmly believe all that the Holy Catholick Apostolick and Roman Church Believes and that they will Live and Dye in the Communion of it Therefore let no Humane Consideration induce you to give them the Sacraments till you find in them all the Dispositions requisite to receive them Worthily IX You must be very Cautious and Prudent in the manner of Examining your Penitents concerning the Sin of Impurity Principally in the Confessions of Women to whom you must take Care to speak with so much Modesty that you may give them no occasion to believe that Sensuality or Curiosity hath any share in the Questions you ask them X. You may at first abate your New-Converts something of the Severity of those Pennances which otherwise their Sins might deserve least too rigorous a Behaviour towards them should make them stumble at the Threshhold and so Fright them out of the Way of their Salvation XI Vse no sort of Means to any one either in Sickness or in Health to compel them to the Sacraments agains● their Wills Neither Threaten or Inform against any body on ●●…as occasion Avoid likewise as much as you can the giving notice of them to those who are appointed to Judge and Punish them for their Failures on the score of Religion But rest your self satisfied in that you have done your Duty in Exhorting them to Theirs in the presence of their Neighbours Make them sensible of the great Advantages they will reap by so doing engage their Relations and Friends to persuade them not to go out of this World without the Comfortable Help of the Holy Viaticum XII In case any one Dye having refus'd to receive the Blessed Sacrament let him not be Interr'd in Holy Ground nor make any publick Prayers for him after his Death Concern not your selves in what manner they use the Corps or where they Bury it leave That to the Kings Officers whose Business it is to take Care of it Thrust not your selves into those Matters or into any thing else that may Alienate them from you and so put you out of a Capacity of doing their Souls that Service your Function obliges you unto XIII When they fail in sending their Children to School or Catechism or when they Eat Meat upon prohibited Days tell them of it Charitably but Privately as a good Pastor ought to do And if by your Christian Care and good Advice they mend not their Faults do not therefore bring them publickly into Trouble or speak with Contempt or Aversion of them to their Neighbours but content your self in giving us an account of those that have not Comply'd with their Duties that we may in due time apply such Remedies to them as Charity shall suggest or the Holy Ghost shall inspire Vs XIV Pray to God Almighty both in Private and in Publick for their true and sincere Conversion Edify them by your good Examples and by your Holy Chaste Charitable and Dis-interested way of Living Feed them continually with the wholesom Food of the Word of God Oblige them with a Christian and Brotherly Affection in all things that they shall desire and You can do for them either in Relation to their Spiritual or Temporal good This is the best way of Confirming them in our Communion for as St. Augustin says Nothing contributes more to the knowledge of a True Church than a real practice of the Truths The Evangelist teaches us Ejus est Evangelium ubi vivitur secundum Evangelium XV. Put in practice the Advice the Prince of the Apostles gives to all Pastors which we may call the first Rule of Christianism Feed the Flock of God committed to your Care watching over them not by a forc'd Necessity but by an Affection truly Voluntary Not by a shameful desire of Gain but by a Dis-interested Charity And as St. Paul says Receive and Use with Charity him that is yet weak in Faith without running violently into Contests and Disputations with him 1 Peter Rom. 14. XVI Endeavour to follow the Way that St. Augustin prescrib'd to a Bishop of Carthage which was to Act in such like Circumstances without Heat Threats or Sharpness and to persuade them in your Exhortations to fear more the Judgments of God than the Power of Men Non asperè quantum existimo non duriter non modo imperioso ista Tollantur sed magis docendo quam jubendo magis monendo quam minando nè nos ●psi in nostra potestatè non Deus in suo Sermone time●tur St. Aug. Epist ad Aurel. Carth. Remember that the Diseases of the Soul are not to be Cured in a little time and when they are it is never done by Constraint and Violence but by the Fervour of Prayers and by a soft and gentle insinuation of Truth mix'd with Charity So that to gain their good Opinion of you and to induce them to Love the Holy Catholick Church tell them what St. Augustin told the Manicheans to oblige them kindly to return to their Mother Church Let those says he treat you with Rigour that know not how hard a thing it is to find out Truth and to avoid Errour Let those use you with Rigour that know not how hard it is to overcome the prejudice of an Unhappy Education and the wild Chimera 's of a Mind pre-possess'd with Errour Let those treat you with Rigour that know not how hard it is to clear the Eye of the Interiour Man and make him capable of Discerning Truth which is the Sun of the Soul But let us not use at that rate those that are seperated from us not by any Errours they have invented themselves but by those of their Fore-fathers We therefore offer up our daily Prayers to Almighty God that being throughly convinc'd of the false Opinions your Ignorance rather then Malice engag'd you in he will be graciously pleas'd to Inspire you with the Spirit of Peace which will admit of no other impressions than those of Charity of no other Interest than that of Jesus Christ and of no other desires than those of your Salvation St. Aug. contr Epist fundum cha 2. Sir I am ever Your most Affectionate The Cardinal le CAMVS At Grenoble the 28 April 1687