urg'd to condemn it because supposing they do not understand it they can neither truely averr that they do reject it nor promise truely that they will not embrace it for peradventure they may be engag'd to doe it without knowing of it and perhaps fall into it before they are aware Now if we suppose that these Divines do know what the Pope and the Bishops understand by this Sense of Jansenius they have so much the more reason to demand because they onely know it by particular waies and such as are not authentical so that if they should themselves determine what the Pope understands by the Sense of Jansenius as these Propositions are susceptible of various senses the Jesuites would not fail presently to say that this were not yet what the Pope understands and what they ought to condemn in fine that 't were some other thing without saying what and so one should never have an end It were therefore much better they should make their addresses to those who have the power to determine this Sense that if they once did it it might clearly appear by condemning this Dogm together with them in which they had comprehended the Sense of Jansenius that one be not enwrapp'd in any Errour But the plain truth is These Divines both do know and do not know the Sense of Jansenius They do very well know a Doctrine in Jansenius to be very holy very Catholick and most Orthodox which is that of Efficacious Grace per se which infallibly causes the Will to act without imposing of a necessity They acknowledge the Catholick Doctrine of the free Predestination of the Elect receiv'd by the whole Church and maintain'd by Bellarmine himself as a point of Faith and they do acknowledge no other Point upon the subject of the Five Propositions But since it is evident by the universal consent of the Church that this is not that which the Pope and the Bishops mean by the Sense of Jansenius which they condemn but a certain Sense which was never known to our Divines before Baius and Jansenius according to those Gentlemen the Bishops of the Assembly a certain Sense contrary to the Doctrine of all the Catholick Schools as these very Bishops do assure us a certain Sense different from efficacious Grace repugnant to S. Augustine and which has been constantly condemn'd by the Dominicans and the Jesuites as F. Annat and M. Hallier have so deeply protested before the Constitution of Pope Innocent It is this certain Sense which these Divines do not understand or at least which they but very confusedly know They know all that the Jesuites and the other adversaries of Jansenius have said of it in divers Books But they see that their Explanations do not agree together whiles some of them place it in one Point and others in another All that they know of this Sense is that it is different from Efficacious Grace and by consequent that they do not hold it and that they reject it because they hold but this Doctrine and that whatsoever Doctrine is repugnant to it is false So as in the necessity to which they are reduc'd for the justification of their Faith and to avoid the reproch which they cast on them touching this uncertain unexplicable Sense they have reason to appeal to the Bishops who ought to know it since they condemn it and to the Pope who could not have condemn'd it without knowing it to conjure them to explain it that so they may be inabled to confound their Accusers in shewing the world how free they are from any Errour This is the onely reason which makes them require with so much earnestness the Explication of this Sense for they have otherwise no such hast to know it They hold the truth of the Doctrine of Efficacious Grace per se and reject whatsoever Errour is repugnant to it whether it be in attributing too little to Grace as the Molinists or in destroying its liberty as this pretended Errour of Jansenius's Sense should be This suffices them so as men molest them not with the indetermin'd Sense of Jansenius and they will soon leave enquiring what it is But if they continue their Persecutions thus upon this point they will be forc'd to continue the pressing of them to explain this Sense nor can they refuse to doe it without an evident sign of Oppression For the Bishops cannot in conscience make them condemn it without they know it and if they do know it 't is a foolery not to be understood that they should refuse to declare it But Sir it is now time we took off our spirits from these subtile matters and which smell of the School to oppose another Illusion of Father Ferrier not a whit less dangerous but somewhat more intelligible This Father does upon all occasions represent the present Church as divided in two Parties The one pompous and triumphant as compos'd of the Pope the Bishops and of all both Ecclesiastical Secular and Regular who condemn the Sense of Jansenius as heretical who believe that matter of Fact is inseparable from matter of Right and that therefore it is not to be deny'd without being an Heretick The other poor and abandon'd as consisting but of a small number of Divines who refuse to acknowledge that the Sense of Jansenius is heretical who hold that there is a Fact separate from Right in the Decision of the Pope which condemns it and that therefore one may by consequence refuse to believe it without being an Heretick This is the Idea which F. Ferrier gives us of the Church in his Treatise But as there is nothing more prodigious then this Idea so is there also nothing more false God will never abandon his Church to that degree as to suffer so gross and visible an Errour to reign in it And every man may by himself be convinc'd of the falseness of this phantastick Supposition For unless a man wilfully shut his own eyes one cannot deny but there are in the Church no less then four different Opinions upon the Formularie The First is that of the Jesuites who affirm that matter of Fact is inseparable from that of Right and that quatenus so it cannot be deny'd without Heresie The Second is that of a considerable number of Divines who believe that though it be no Article of divine Faith to hold that the Sense of Jansenius is heretical and that the Fact may very well be separated from Right yet that Christian humility obliges us nevertheless to prefer the Sense of the Pope to his proper Illumination and so they ought to believe the Fact by humane Faith and under that notion sign the Formularie The Third and the most embrac'd consists in affirming that a man is not oblig'd to believe the matter of Fact as decided either by divine or humane Faith but that one may for all that sign the Formularie without violating his Conscience because the Signature does never concern or fall upon the Facts
The Fourth is the opinion of several other Divines who are persuaded of one part that it is most false the Fact should be separated from Right or that it should be a point of Faith to hold the Doctrine of Jansenius heretical or that a man is obliged to believe it by humane Faith but who believe on the other part that the Fact being contain'd in this Formularie those who scruple it cannot sign it without restriction since the declarations which men make to the Church ought to be intirely sincere and free of all duplicity It is visible that in this difference of Divines each party condemns the others but after a sort very different The Jesuites who make the first ought by the necessary consequence of their Opinion to condemn for Heresie not onely the last who absolutely refuse to sign that the sense of Jansenius is heretical but those likewise who do not believe it of humane Faith or that believe it not at all albeit they sign it For Heresie consists in the opinion of the spirit and not in the omission of an exterior action of the hand A person who should not believe but with an humane Faith that the Body of J. Christ were in the Sacrament of the Eucharist or that should sign it in infidelity would be never the less an Heretick then he who should absolutely refuse to sign it So as all those many Bishops that have caus'd none to sign or that receive restrictions concerning the matter of Fact or that declare they do not require the belief of the Fact or that pretend not the Fact can be otherwise believ'd then by humane Faith are as much Hereticks in the judgement of the Jesuites and of F. Annat as these Divines whom they particularly persecute True it is their Politicks oblige them to distinguish of two sorts of Hereticks in France some of which they treat civilly and others most outrageously They place the Bishops Sorbonists the Fathers of the Oratory the Benedictines c. in the first order and whom they do not yet attacque but by consequence though by a very necessary one whiles they range in the other those whom they immediately design for ruine that so they may with the greater force surprize the other Therefore it is sufficiently evident that all those persons who have sign'd the Fact either of humane Faith or without believing it shall be never the more acquitted for that but be all Hereticks in their turn when they have left off oppressing the others seeing they must of necessity be so in the opinion of the Jesuites But on the contrary all these three last parties who accord in this point that this Fact of Jansenius is very separable from Right that it does not in the least concern the Faith and that one may safely deny it without Heresie ought from a necessary consequence of this their mutual Opinion condemn the Jesuites both of Calumny and Errour It is certain these four Parties reside in the Church and that if one would now consider which of them were the most numerous one might safely affirm that there are none more profligate and abandon'd and who have fewer sincere approbators then that of the Jesuites Nor is this an aiery Supposition but a real Verity to be discern'd by every one that has a mind to it that the Jesuites stand almost single in this pretension that matter of Fact is inseparable from matter of Right and that one cannot believe without being an Heretick the Doctrine of Jansenius not to be heretical The most devoted to the Jesuites of the Bishops ask for whom the World takes them that they should believe them capable of so monstrous a Folly as is that of affirming that a Fact should be inseparably joyn'd to Faith They express as much as one would wish in words that they do not require the assent of Fact They receive the Subscriptions of those whom they very well know do not believe it and who declare as much before they sign All the Curats of Paris do solemnly approve and by an authentick Act the Distinction between Fact and Right contain'd in the first Mandat of Paris In fine they proceed with confidence that the Jesuites cannot find six Bishops in all France and ten Divines of the least considerable persons who will sign this Proposition which F. Ferrier maintains and which is the basis of all his Treatise The Fact of Jansenius is inseparable from Faith and one cannot reject the Dogm which is condemned without acknowledging it to be Jansenius ' s. And in particular they affirm that he could not make M. Grandin sign nor M. Moret nor amongst the Doctors M. Chamillart nor Monsieur de Rouën amongst the Bishops It is certain therefore that the Jesuites are in a manner alone in their erroneous opinions And 't is as true that the Divines whom they persecute are almost wholly united to the Church in this difference which is between them I confess they have yet some dispute with the other Divines because against the one they maintain that one owes not so much as humane Faith to Decisions de facto when there is any cause of doubt administred and against the other that it was not altogether sincere in them to subscribe a Formularie which clearly comprizes a Fact without being fully persuaded of the Fact But this difference has relation to Manners onely and not to Faith and in this very difference they may make use of the authority of the one to defend themselves against the other Those who sign the Fact as of humane Faith approve of their Doctrine touching the Sincerity of Subscriptions Those who sign the Fact without believing it approve what they affirm That the Church obliges none to believe the Fact by way of command so as to the truth they have this consolation that in every of the Points whereof they are accus'd they are united in Opinion with the greatest part of the Divines of the Church Whoever shall take the pains diligently to inform himself of the bottom of these particulars will clearly find that what I say is most true And if any man ask why the contrary appears to the World that the Jesuites domineer every-where and the Divines are oppress'd it is not very difficult to give a reason for it They are onely to consider what Post F. Annat holds and what Power the place in which he is affords him both at Rome and at Paris to doe what he pleases as to this matter They know nothing at Rome but from the Instructions which he sends them and he stands at the gate of all the Benefices of France to exclude who-ever stands in his way in any thing Every one has his particular business at Court and those who have no other either for themselues or their Communalty enjoy their repose in which they will not be molested Jansenism is the onely affair of Father Annat so as that people may not be cross'd in their particular businesses
that though the Pope was chief of Bishops yet the Congregation of Bishops was the Court from whence final resolutions were to be expected The former Tenet had of late gotten a great strength through the most parts of Christendom but the Divine Providence when it found it fitting raised the French Church which at the present is very flourishing to set a bar to their great advance as may be seen by the Papers here inserted The substance of the Advocate General 's Plea against a Thesis defended in Sorbon concerning the Pope's Infallibility Translated out of the French Copy I Do saies he acknowledge my carelesness in having suffered to scape unpunished those horrible Blasphemies which the Jesuites vomited out against Jesus Christ in a Thesis defended the last year in the College of Clermont which maintained that the Pope was as infallible in matters both of Fact and Right as Jesus Christ himself Has a greater Impiety been heard of But it is ordinary with them to teach erroneous Doctrines And I believe 't is from the impunity of that Crime that the boldness has been taken to defend the like Errours in Sorbon against her Statutes the Doctrine of the Gallican Church and the Maximes of State and of this Court How That the Pope with five or six ignorant Divines with mercenary souls should be Infallible to make Articles of Faith of whatsoever Passion Interest or Ambition shall suggest to him Our Ancestors have seen the fatal consequences and effects of this pernicious Doctrine Wherefore lest this poison should spread it self farther and this pernicious Doctrine take root if it be left unpunished I conclude the Thesis shall be struck out and blotted the Defendent and President constrained to maintain the direct contrary and the Syndic never to approve such like Theses under pain of being extraordinarily proceeded against The Pope and Bishops are not Authors of our Faith but faithfull Guardians and irrefragable Witnesses of universal Tradition received from hand to hand from Jesus Christ to us according to Vincentius Lirinensis Quod semper quod ubique quod ab omnibus creditum est hoc de Fide est c. Notes upon it Those who are acquainted with the Government of France understand that the Parliament of Paris is made of Members given to Learning and reading of Fathers and to the skill of Languages particularly Greek and Latine and by consequence of Church Antiquities and that the King's Advocate who at this present is called Monsieur Talon is ordinarily one of the most eminent and that in matters of Divinity they are tenacious of the Decrees of the Sorbon the greatest Catholick University in our parts of the World and whose Doctrine passeth for the Doctrine of the Church of France especially their Ancient Decrees It is again to be noted that he saith that the Tenet of the Pope's Personal Infallibility in making Doctrines to be of new accepted for Articles of Faith is against the Maximes of the French Government that is that it toucheth upon Treason which if it be true in France it can be no less in England and he cannot be truly loyal to his Country who obstinately maintaineth that Errour The reason is clear for if that be true the Pope may define and oblige Subjects to believe that he can depose a Prince and bind his Subjects to take Arms against him as was insinuated in a Letter confidently reported to have been lately written from Rome to Ireland by a great man of that Court though others say the Letter was counterfeited Extracted out of a Letter written from France to a Person of Quality The Jesuites having defended formerly that the Pope hath the same Infallibility with Jesus Christ Monsieur Talon the Advocate General complained of it publickly in Parliament remonstrating that this was a most horrible Impiety and highly deserving open and corporal Punishment Whereupon the Court of the said Parliament has ordained that the President the Regent and the Scholars which maintain'd it should appear personally to receive a Reprehension for the first time and a denouncing of corporal and publick punishment intended and resolv'd to be inflicted in case any of them should relapse into the like Blasphemy hereafter Notes upon it The Thesis mentioned is that against which was divulged the Paper entituled THE JESUITES NEW HERESIE which insinuates that the Tenet of the Pope's Infallibility was their former Heresie which is a gentle Censure upon a Doctrine able to introduce Heresies without number into the Church of God as is evident to whosoever shall consider how easie it is for a dozen of Divines to be either corrupted or deceived and yet our Faith by this Position is made to depend on their Science and Integrity Note again that the King's Advocate professeth that the Tenet of the Pope's Infallibility in matters of Fact deserveth publick and corporal punishment which signifies no less then whipping banishment or some such like punishment and that it is a Crime deserving that the Civil Magistrate ought to take notice of it This Absurdity was invented by the Jesuites in envy to the great Scholar Jansenius to the end that people might be persuaded he held Errours not visible in his Books of the which they calumniated him and would prove him guilty of them onely by the Pope's Infallible word defining him to be so which mad Prank of theirs has made such a pother in France of late years A Decree of the Court of Parliament against a Theological Conclusion intended to have been maintain'd the 19 of January 1662 3. by Monsieur Gabriel Droüet of Ville-neufve Bachelor Given the 22 of January 1662 3 at Paris Extracted out of the Registers of Parliament and faithfully render'd into English THis day the Court having deliberated upon what was by the King's Council represented the 19 and 20 of this present Month concerning a Thesis intended to have been maintain'd the said 19 day by Monsieur Gabriel Drouet of Ville-neufve in Britany Bachelor in Divinity at the Act call'd The great Ordinary of SORBON which contain'd in its Second Position Christus Sanctum Petrum ejúsque Successores summâ supra Ecclesiam Auctoritate donavit Christ gave Saint Peter and his Successors highest Authority over the Church in its Third Romani Antistites Privilegia quibusdam Ecclesiis sicut Ecclesiae Gallicanae impertiunt The Bishops of Rome bestow Privileges upon certain Churches as upon the French Church in its Eighth Concilia Generalia ad exstirpandas Haereses Schismata alia tollenda incommoda admodum sunt utilia non tamen absolutè necessaria General Councils are very profitable to extirpate Heresies and Schisms and to take away other inconveniencies but not absolutely necessary and many other Propositions contrary to the Authority of the Church to the Ancient Doctrine alwaies received and conserved in this Kingdome to the holy Canons to the Decrees of General Councils and to the Liberties of the Gallican Church tending also to exalt the power of the Pope
that those amongst some of the new Doctors who would be thought the most favourable to Popes as Monsieur du Val have not been afraid to maintain the Pope's being Infallible was no matter of Faith Duvallius de Suprema authorit Rom. Pontific l. 2. q. 1. Non est de fide Summum Pontificem esse Infallibilem And that the Opinion which assures us he is not is neither erroneous nor rash Ibid. Non est erroneum neque temerarium temeritate Opinionis dicere Summum Pontificem in decernendo errare posse But these very Divines however studious of exalting as much as they could possibly the Authority of the Soveraign Bishops do acknowledge as a thing certain indubitable and constant amongst all Catholicks That they are not Infallible in matters of Fact That therein they may erre and That indeed they are very frequently mistaken Bellarm de Sum. Pontif l. 4. c. 2. All Catholicks saies Cardinal Bellarmine accord in this That the Pope acting as Pope and with the Assembly of his Counsellers yea even with a General Council it self may be deceived in particular facts which depend upon the information and testimony of men And applying this general Maxime to a matter of Fact perfectly resembling that of Jansenius which is to consider whether the Heresie of the Monothelites be comprehended in the Epistles of Honorius as the VI. General Council confirm'd by so many Popes hath defin'd it he adds A General and Lawfull Council cannot erre in defining Points of Faith as neither has the Sixth Council erred therein but it may erre in Questions concerning matters of Fact Ibid. c. 11. Generale Concilium legitimum non potest errare ut neque erravit hoc Sextum in Dogmatibus Fidei definiendis tamen errare potest in Quaestionibus de Facto And Cardinal Baronius affirms the very same upon the same Subject of the Sixth Oecumenical Council We do not so strictly receive the Condemnation even of General Councils themselves as to what concerns mens Persons and their Writings For no body doubts but that who-ever it is he may be deceived in matters of Fact and then is that expression of S. Paul to take place We can doe nothing against the Truth but for the Truth Baron ad An. 681. n. 39. In his enim quae Facti sunt unumquemque contingere posse falli nemini dubium est All other Divines even the most devoted to the Court of Rome have hitherto contain'd themselves within these limits but the Jesuites will no more indure either bounds or Examples in their excess and extravagancies It suffices not them to render the Pope Infallible as some Divines may possibly have done They will have it that Jesus Christ has absolutely imparted to him the very same Infallibility which He himself possess'd upon the Earth and that as this Infallibility of Jesus Christ extended to all and not onely to things already reveal'd but to those things which had never yet been so reveal'd and that he made known himself in saying them so the Pope does also become Infallible not onely in proposing to the Church what is contain'd in the reveal'd Will of God but in proposing to her likewise matters of Fact which it is evident and certain God has never yet reveal'd as when for Instance the Question is Whether these Propositions are in a Book of the Seventeenth Age. Nor are these any Consequences which we may naturally deduce from their doctrine they draw them thence themselves and form Catholick Assertions of them conformable to the Title of their Position There is then say they an Infallible Judge of Controversies of Faith even extrinsecal to a General Council it self as well for Questions appertaining to Right as for those which concern matters of Fact And that you should not doubt what it is they would signifie by these Questions of Fact albeit the word Fact oppos'd to Right renders it sufficiently perspicuous they produce for an Example and as a new Consequence of this Infallibility of Jesus Christ communicated to the Pope That since the Constitutions we may believe with a divine Faith that the Book of Jansenius is heretical and that the Five Propositions do belong to this Author Unde post Innocentii X. Alexandri VII Constitutiones fide divinâ credi potest Librum cui titulus est Jansenii Augustinus esse haereticum Quinque Propositiones ex eo decerptas esse Jansenii Behold then here the Proposition which these men assert publickly in one of the greatest Cities of the World and it is worth observing to note the Original and the date of it For those who now at present promote it so boldly had long since scatter'd the seeds thereof in some of their Writings and it was sufficiently evident that all their design was to be bottom'd upon this Errour they had likewise themselves advanced the Conclusions in one place and the Principles in another but it was still with certain windings and ambiguities of termes which as yet furnish'd them with lurking-holes and places of subterfuge but now they discover nakedly and without disguise to the Church what it is they pretend to establish in her Let the whole Church take notice of it then and record it That it was the 12 of December in the year 1661 that the Jesuites openly publish'd that monstrous Opinion which they have been so long a-brooding That it was upon this day they propos'd as a most Catholick Assertion That whenever the Pope does speak out of his Chair HE HATH THE SAME INFALLIBILITY THAT JESUS CHRIST HATH not onely in Questions of Right BUT ALSO IN MATTERS OF FACT and that hence we are to believe WITH A FAITH DIVINE that those Five Propositions are of Jansenius It will My Lords be needless to amplifie much in letting the world see that this is not here onely a solitary Errour or simple Heresie but a whole source of Errours and as one may say an Universal Heresie which overthrows all Religion For you know My Lords that the very prime Fundamental of Christian Religion is That our Faith is not supported upon the word of Men but upon the Word of God which is Truth it self and that it is That which renders it immoveable and altogether Divine whereas it would else prove but Humane were it upheld by any other Authority less then that of God and if we were not able to render our selves that Testimony which S. Paul gives the Christians of Thessalonica To have received the Word which God hath taught us by his Church and that not as the Word of Men but as the Word of God and as in truth it is Non ut verbum hominum sed sicut est verè verbum Dei De error Abailardi c. 4. Whatsoever is comprised in the Faith saies S. Bernard is built upon solid and certain Truth persuaded by the divine Oracles confirmed by Miracle and consecrated by the production of the Virgin by the bloud of
Boulogne and that whosoever should dare maintain this Translation was unjust did erre both from the Truth and Catholick Faith Fuit igitur à Basileensi Civitate legitima pro tunc nostra Concilii dissolutio asserentes contrà sunt penitus ab omni veritate fide Catholica alieni And yet notwithstanding the Fathers of the Council of Basil persisting that this Translation was unjust and null Eugenius was forc'd to acknowledge by another as authentick a Bull that in effect it was void and that the Council was alwaies legitimately assembled from the beginning of it to that very time You may find both the one and the other of these Bulls in Raynaldus the first in the year 1433 and the latter in Anno 1434. Now shall both of these be embrac'd for Articles of Faith And shall we be oblig'd to believe that the same Council at the very same time was an Unlawfull Conventicle and a Lawfull Council of the Universal Church assembled by the Holy Spirit The same Raynaldus mentions a Bull of Eugenius the IVth against the Cardinal d' Arles Ad Ann. 1640. who presided at the Council of Basil wherein he is call'd Iniquitatis alumnus atque perditionls filius If the Suffrage of the Popes in the Judgments which they make concerning Persons by their Bulls are to be reputed as Infallible as that of Jesus Christ we should be oblig'd to hold this Cardinal for a very wicked Caitiff But what shall we think if God have judg'd otherwise concerning him and that far from willing us to detest him as a Child of Iniquity and a Son of Perdition he would have us to reverence him for one of the Blessed confirming his Sanctity by publick Miracles authoriz'd by another Pope which was Clement the VIIth who has by an authentick Bull enroll'd him among the number of the Happy by declaring not that he had done Penance after his being a Child of Iniquity but that he had alwaies led a most heavenly chast and immaculate life as it is to be seen in that Bull of his Beatification recited at large by Ciaconius These are some Examples which sufficiently discover to us the false pretence of these Jesuites But without seeking farther the very Authors of this Doctrine find themselves plung'd in Heresie by the undeniable sequel of their Errours For they maintain in this very Conclusion That Pope Honorius has taught nothing in his Epistles but what was most consonant and agreeable to the Catholick Faith concerning the two Wills and two Operations in Jesus Christ Duas in Christo Voluntates Operationes fuisse profitemur nec aliud à nobis sensit Honorius dum Operationem Christi unicam esse scripsit Now if this be a point of Faith as these Jesuites pretend That the Book of Jansenius is Heretical and that the Five Propositions are of this Author because two Popes have affirmed it and that we are oblig'd to consider what they say in those Particulars as if J. Christ had himself pronounc'd it with how much greater reason may we affirm the same of Pope Honorius's Epistles which have both been examin'd condemn'd and Burnt by a General Council of the whole Church where the Pope himself presided by his Legats and which has been confirm'd as to this very point and Article by two other General Councils more and by a very great number of Popes beside For if ever Popes speak out of the Chair it is then when they speak with the General Councils and confirm them by their Apostolical Authority And thus doubtless Leo Epist ad Constan Pope Leo the Second spake out of his Chair when in several of his Epistles which he wrote to confirm the VIth Oecumenical Council he did in particular ratifie the Condemnation of Honorius and pronounced him Anathema because he had not enlightned the Apostolical Church they are the express words by the doctrine of Apostolical Tradition but suffered her to be defiled by a prophane Tradition Qui hanc Apostolicam Ecclesiam non Apostolicae Traditionis doctrinâ illustravit sed prophanâ Traditione maculari permisit And by consequence if then when the Popes dictate from their Chair whatsoever the Subject be matter of Right or Fact they have the same Infallibility with Jesus Christ and that all which they pronounce is an Article of Faith it ought to be as much a matter of Faith that the Epistles of Honorius are Heretical and the person who denies it after assent to this general Maxime bears the most notorious mark of an Heretick according to S. Paul which is to be self-condemned It would not signifie in the least to have recourse to that pretended falsification of the Acts of the VIth Council and the Epistles of Leo the Second For as this pretence is altogether unmaintainable frivolous and extravagant as even the most devoted Bishops to the Jesuites have themselves acknowledged in the last Assembly of the Clergy were there onely this miserable evasion to excuse us from believing with a divine Faith that Honorius was justly Anathematiz'd and his Epistles legally condemn'd as replete with Heresies we must certainly have renounc'd our common Senses to form any other judgment concerning that Pope and not to hold his Epistles for Heretical But as it is the property of Errour to destroy it self He that should be engaged by this novel Opinion of the Jesuites necessarily to hold that the Epistles of Honorius are Heretical by the same would find himself oblig'd to acknowledg the Fallacy of this Opinion For how should he believe that all Popes are endow'd with a like Infallibility with J. Christ what time they speak out of their Chair considering that Honorius slipt into an Errour in a conjuncture in which 't is difficult to conceive but that he did speak out of his Chair seeing he spake as a Judge in a Controversie of Faith and in order to the adjusting of the greatest difference which was then on foot in the Church and which had divided all the Oriental Patriarchs And for all this not regarding the judgment of the VIth Council and supposing what is extremely ridiculous that the Acts thereof were corrupted how should it be pretended that Honorius had in this encounter the same Infallibility with J. Christ since having by his Letters approved the heretical Epistles of Sergius Patriarch of Constantinople either he understood it as he ought and then he erred in point of Right by approving the heretical Opinion of one single Will in J. Christ which he had acknowledg'd to be in effect contain'd in this Epistle of Sergius or he understood it amiss for accepting that in a Catholick sense which Sergius had asserted in an Heretical and so he had at least erred in point of Faith So that the Jesuites can in no sort avoid the being Hereticks in either sense For if it be Heresie as doubtless it is to attribute to Popes speaking è Cathedra the same Infallibility with Jesus Christ as well
before any man had the boldness to maintain them This we generally find in all Heresies The Doctrine of Arius is an Heresie but it does not consist in the vain and indeterminate words of the Doctrine of Arius but in this particular Position or Opinion that the Son is not consubstantial with the Father It is the very same in all the rest They all maintain a peculiar and distinct Dogme independent from the name of the Author and when we do not know the Opinion any more we say that we know the Heresie no more and if a man had never known it he might well say that it never was This is sufficient say the Divines to repell that unjust Reproch which they fling upon us of being sectators of a new Heresie For we sincerely protest that we intirely acquiesce in the Authority of the Universal Church that we embrace without the least reservation all the Dogms which She proposes to us as of Faith that we submit all our Understanding and Reason to her and that our hearts do not at all accuse us of holding any Doctrine which is repugnant to her Decisions so as we can say before God with confidence upon this subject Iniquitatem si aspexi in corde meo non exaudiet Dominus We do not conceal our sense but are ready to referre it to the Pope and to the Bishops and to accept them for our Judges We have offer'd it several times and have this consolation that those who are the most prejudic'd against us have nothing to object against us In fine we are so far from embracing any particular Doctrine on the Five Propositions that though we do not acknowledge the Jesuites for the Rules of our Faith yet it is most true that we hold no Opinion upon the matter of the Five Propositions which they dare publickly accuse of Heresie before the Pope or the Bishops How clear and ingenuous Sir is this Declaration how truly Catholick and exceedingly remote from all suspicion of Heresie and that not onely for acquitting these persons of Errours but for shewing that they could not be culpable of Heresie if without their knowledge and consent they should haply fall into some Errour since all the world knows that the crime of Heresie does not consist simply in the Errour but in the Obstinacy to maintain and dwell in an Errour against the judgment of the Church Now how is it possible that these people should impudently maintain an Errour they are totally ignorant of against a judgement of the Church which they know nothing of But this does not satisfie the Jesuites and because they do not find their reckoning in it they continue their accusation of Heresie and this is it which has oblig'd the Divines to give them this defiance and which is certainly very urging Either set the Heresie you impute to us distinctly and clearly down or acknowledge your selves Calumniators for accusing us of an Heresie which you cannot tell what to make of On this it is that the Jesuites have reveal'd the Mysterie of their Politicks and the whole secret of the Heresie In stead of endeavouring to set down describe the Positions a thing which upon trial did never succeed with them they intrench themselves and have recourse to the uncertain expression of the Sense and of the Doctrine of Jansenius without any farther advance You hold say they the Doctrine of Jansenius to be Catholick the Pope declares it heretical behold then your Heresie But as they had to doe with persons very well prepar'd to defend themselves so never was there an Equivocation unriddled as this has been They told F. Annat in express terms that this was a Scholastical Sophism unworthy an old Logician as he was Nunquámne intelliges Dialectice senex puerile argumentationis vitium and they prov'd it well too For some of them it seems condemn his Sense and his Doctrine as heretical whiles others defend it for Catholick without the least difference between them concerning Faith because it is not the same precise and determin'd Sense which is thus condemn'd by some and approv'd by others though they both of them call it by the same name and that is but what we daily meet with in the different explication of an Author For there is ever in these encounters this opposition of words that some affirm the Doctrine of an Author to be Catholick and others that 't is heretical though neither of them disagree touching the true Faith The Fifth Council pronounces the Doctrine of Theodoret to be impious and heretical Father Petavius and many other Jesuites deny it are they therefore against the Faith of the Council By no means since they defend Theodoret but by interpreting him after another way then did the Council and by giving him a Catholick sense 'T is the very same case in the present Dispute The Pope saies the Doctrine of Jansenius is heretical other men say We find no such matter in Jansenius The words have indeed an appearance of contrariety but without implying the least contrariety of Faith forasmuch as the Doctrine which these Divines maintain to be Catholick and of Jansenius is not certainly the same Doctrine which the Pope condemns for heretical and as being that of Jansenius And the proof which they bring is decisive We do not say they maintain on the matter of the Five Propositions any thing save the Doctrine of Grace efficacious alone as 't is held by S. Augustine and by the whole School of S. Thomas Now 't is clear that the Pope does no-where condemn this Doctrine as he makes all the Church believe and indeed as both the Church and the Jesuites themselves do accord It is then certain that the Pope does not condemn that which we understand under the notion of the Sense of Jansenius as we likewise do not hold what the Pope condemns under these terms seeing this Doctrine excepted we have nothing at all to doe with the rest but reject it in general as we are ready to doe in particular when-ever the Church shall please to describe it in particular or to shew us where it is And thus you have the whole state of this ten-years Dispute The Jesuites stand to their sense of Jansenius and all men that will may perceive the Illusion and Equivocation of the terms But in fine F. Ferrier is come up from the very farthest part of all Languedoc to the aid of his Confraternity and has been chosen by F. Annat to publish this Heresie and to answer all those Writings which made it plainly out that it is but a mere Chimaera but especially he undertook to replie to the Treatise of Just Complaints which expressly clears this Equivocation of the Sense of Jansenius Now therefore it is that we shall shortly come to know in what this wondrous Heresie consists or else we must never hope to understand it whiles we live What saies this Reverend Father to us then That 't is expedient to publish
Reasons They judge that this distinct Dogm is of an Author by the very view of the Passages and the connexion of his Principles They judge it to be Heretical or Catholick by the comparison which they make of it with the Scripture and Tradition Thus it is the Pope and the Bishops should proceed indeed in condemning the Doctrine of Jansenius It was not enough for them to know that Jansenius teaches some Doctrine on the Five Propositions since 't is ridiculous to conclude from thence that this Doctrine is heretical but they should necessarily have reduc'd the vain uncertain Doctrine of Jansenius to a precise Dogm by a judgment purely of Fact in judging that this distinct Doctrine is of Jansenius to be able afterwards to pronounce the judgment of Faith which insinuates the Doctrine to be heretical There are not in the whole World things more separate and distinct then these Conclusions This Dogm is Jansenius's This Doctrine is heretical The one is matter of Fact the other of Right The one is true ever since the Church has been the Church the other cannot be true but since Jansenius has written and was before that false It may be true that this was such an Author's Position without his being an Heretick and it may be as true that a Position is heretical without being such an Author's because it is not therefore heretical for being such an Author's nor therefore such an Author 's for being heretical Now these two Judgments more remote from each other then are the Heavens from the Earth are both comprehended in this single Proposition The Doctrine of Jansenius is heretical which is the result and thus it comprehends a Right and a Fact really separated though confounded in the expression It may be deny'd as to them both and were onely the Fact deny'd they are not those who fall into the Heresie that doe it but those who accuse them of Heresie under this pretext as does the F. Ferrier For 't is certain that of one part the Pope has form'd this Judgment namely This is Jansenius's Doctrine but this is onely a matter of Fact and a Fact not revealed either in Scripture or Tradition It is also evident this Fact is wholly separate from Right and that it is compris'd within the Pope's Decision which declares that the Doctrine of Jansenius is heretical When therefore F. Ferrier accuses those of Heresie who deny it he falls himself into the Heresie of establishing a point of Faith upon a thing which is neither contained in the Scripture nor in Tradition He has therefore the choice after this to say that this Fact has been either reveal'd to the Pope or not reveal'd If he acknowledge it has not been reveal'd to him he falls into this Heresie of making an Article of Faith of a matter of Fact which is no-where revealed And if he pretend a Revelation of the Pope's he falls into a double Errour one for admitting particular Revelations in the Pope which were to open a gate to all manner of Illusion and another for founding of Points of Faith upon these particular Revelations which is repugnant to the essence of the Catholick Faith which is onely established upon Divine Revelation contain'd in the Scripture and in Tradition He is therefore guilty of Heresie whether he do admit of these Revelations or whether he do not And on the contrary the Divines whom he accuses for that they pretend Jansenius has not been well understood at Rome and that they attribute to him a Doctrine which he no-where maintains are Catholicks whether they be or be not mistaken in this their pretension For it is no way necessary to exempt them from errour of Faith that the Pope should fall into an errour of Fact They are acquitted whether the Pope be mistaken in the matter of Fact or whether he be not If this be true that the Pope did not well understand Jansenius they had reason then not to acknowledge the Doctrine of Jansenius to be heretical And if it be true that he did well understand it all that one ought thence to conclude is this That these Divines did ill understand it and too favourably explain'd it in attributing to it a Catholick sense which it has not and in overseeing another heretical sense which it truly had all which amounts but to a simple errour of Fact which is neither a Crime nor Violence but the most pardonable Mistake in the world and the most worthy of Man according to that of S. Augustine since it all consists in taking the words of a great Bishop in a good sense Qui error saies the Saint non solùm humanus est sed etiam homine dignissimus All the cruel Conclusions of F. Ferrier and the Phantasm of his Heresie being founded upon these false Principles That the Question is de jure That a Fact is inseparable from Right That there is no other Fact in the judgment of the Pope then to know whether Jansenius has taught any Doctrine on the Five Propositions are not onely false but criminal Let him make choice of other Subjects to dispute ill upon as long as he pleases This is a thing which cries for vengeance before God and man to demand of the King as he does Declarations so far remote from his Goodness and Justice upon Arguments so contrary to common Sense Let him distinctly specifie if he can what this Heresie is which he accuses these Divines of and express it under other terms then the ambiguous and uncertain words of the Sense of Jansenius by which no man can know them And if he cannot doe this let him hold his peace and repent of these Extravagances or rather make them some publick reparation as indeed he is obliged This Argument is infinitely more pressing then what he emploies against these Divines pag. 5. in this manner The Jansenists saies he cannot deny that they mock God and the Church when they demand that one should shew them this Sense or Doctrine of Jansenius upon the Five Propositions And why I pray do they mock thus Because saies this Father if they do know what the Sense of Jansenius is upon the Five Propositions they are ridiculous to enquire of a thing which they know already If they do not know what the Sense is they are doubly to blame to publish that they are convinc'd that the Sense of Jansenius is Catholick when as they do not know what it is and for refusing to submit to the Church in a matter which is otherwise unknown to them They replie in a word to F. Ferrier That the Divines who are bound to act according to knowledge and who are not obliged to render the Bishops more then a reasonable obedience have cause to enquire what the Sense of Jansenius is which they would have them to condemn whether they do know it or whether they know it not If they be ignorant of it they have reason to ask to be instructed before they be
be they what they will yet the Sense of Jansenius must in general be condemn'd and it is this general and unexplicable Sense of Jansenius in which according to the Jesuites consists the Heresie of Jansenius It must be confess'd that since men did ever reason together there was never the like Extravagancy But the consequence is yet infinitely more strange For albeit the greatest part of the world laugh'd at it in particular yet they so carried it in publick as if they were of it and the Jesuites have the credit to establish this unheard-of Absurdity to introduce the practice of a Subscription which was never yet heard of in the Church unless it were amongst the Hereticks who are blam'd for it by those who have defended the Church against them For 't is requisite we should know that since the Church was a Church one has never oblig'd either Religious men or School-masters or Clerks or so much as simple Priests to sign They were the German Lutherans of the Confession of Ausburg who for one time onely caus'd their Confession of Faith to be sign'd by the Principals of the Colleges and the Masters of Schools And they are reprov'd for it by Cardinal Bellarmine as of an insupportable Vanity and a Novelty unheard-of in the Church of God ever since the Apostles Now that so strange a thing as this practice to which there was never any recourse in the most damnable Heresies should be introduc'd in France that is to say in a Church the free'st of the world and the greatest enemy to these Servitudes and upon occasion of such Trifles this is what is most stupendious indeed but in that manner which we admire the extraordinary effects of the Fantasticalness of men It is certain yet that the Jesuites could not have better publish'd to the world the excess of that credit which they have in the Church then by this means 'T is nothing to establish reasonable things no man can tell whether it be Reason or Force which has made them to be receiv'd but to make their power appear indeed one should chuse such things as these which are most excessively irrational I can say no more to exalt the power of the Jesuites and we must acknowledge that having succeeded in this Design they are able to doe what-ever is not impossible But in this as ill luck would have it the Heresie of the Sense of Jansenius which they would universally establish is one of those impossible things since to persuade the world of it they must of course change the common Sense of men so as in spight of them the Cause of their adversaries must of necessity vanquish in this last point which is as it were the ultimate Redoubt of the Jesuites I do not onely say that it must needs be so for the future and that all the pretensions of the Jesuites upon the question de facto of Jansenius should pass for ridiculous but I say 't is already so because they do pass for such already amongst all persons who have any cognisance of those matters and that there are very few of them but are disabus'd This I have demonstrated by other proofs in my precedent Letters and therefore I satisfie my self for this time with a concluding one There are divers Bishops in France who have boldly declar'd in the face of the Church that matter of Fact and matter of Right are different things in the affair of Jansenius that all Heresie consists in a precise Dogm and that one cannot with the least shadow of Justice treat those as Hereticks whom they do not reproch with any particular Heresie because they do simply question whether any such Propositions are in a Book or no. M. de Alet M. de Vence M. de Beauvais and M. d' Anger 's clearly promote all these Propositions as certain and indubitable and you may find them all comprehended in M. de Comenge's Letter to the King which is alone sufficient to ruine all the Impostures of Father Ferrier and all the Errours of the Jesuites In the mean time these Fathers with all their credit cannot find Five other Bishops in France that dare formally to promote the Propositions contrary to those which are maintain'd by these Prelates They may find some that may speak of the conceal'd venome of the Heresie of Jansenism because they are words which signifie nothing and which they willingly yield to the strongest party But they could never yet find any that durst affirm that matter of Fact and matter of Right were things inseparable and that there was ever any Heresie without some particular Dogm because there is a certain stop to common Sense which hinders those who have never so little wit from such a degree of Extravagance But you will say at least that the Jesuites Cause has all the advantage at Rome because the Briefs are all in their favour But let me tell you Sir 'T is true the Calumnies of the Jesuites have render'd the Divines odious there because they are opposite to the unjust pretences of the Roman Court against the Sovereignty of Kings and the Jurisdiction of Bishops and therefore perhaps they are not displeas'd at Rome at the Oppression which they suffer But since they have common Sense at Rome as well as at other places all that these Divines maintain here is receiv'd there and as well believ'd as in other places indeed more generally then in France it self because Passion has not so much disturb'd their Reason and their Judgement I do not love to report things without proof and therefore I shall alledge one which is very decisive upon this particular viz. That even the Inquisition of Rome has newly authentically approv'd all that those whom they call Jansenists have taught in France upon the Question de facto de jure which is so ridiculously oppos'd by the Jesuites I conceive you will not require of me to shew you that the Inquisition has given this Judgment in favour of them under the express names of Jansenius and Jansenists You know well enough what Reasons they have to hinder them from rendring them this exact Justice But you ought to be satisfied that I shew you wherein they have render'd it in a Cause so like it that it differs only in the name And now judge whether I do not make it good What do these Divines pretend There is say they a very wide difference between defending of condemn'd Opinions and such as are repugnant to the Catholick Faith which they attribute to Jansenius Bishop of Ypres and maintaining that Jansenius Bishop of Ypres has not taught those condemn'd Opinions The First would be prejudicial to the Church and to their selves but the Second is not in any kinde so For as all Divines acknowledg there is a great deal of difference between saying that the General Councils the Church can erre in jure in condemning an Opinion which does not deserve to be condemn'd and affirming that it can
erre de facto in judging that such or such a Proposition has been taught by a certain particular person The Errour of General Councils or the Church in matter of Fact can cause no prejudice to the Church but the Errour of a Council in matter of Right would be extremely prejudicial to the Church Therefore do we not pretend to defend the Errours of the Five Propositions attributed to Jansenius but that which we pretend is that there is no harm in believing that Jansenius is innocent and at least to acquit him from this ignominious Aspersion You see what these persons say 't is a summary of all their pretensions Now hear my History and observe if you can where the difference consists which distinguishes it from the affair of Jansenius In the Council of Lateran the fullest of all the Councils since there were no less then 1280 Prelates at it they examin'd the Works of Abbot Joachim so famous for his Prophecies and among the rest a small Treatise which he compos'd on the Holy Trinity against the Master of the Sentences The Council finding in this Writing a corrupt Proposition condemn'd him for an Heretick and the Condemnation is inserted in the Canon Law There was at the same time another Abbot call'd Gregory de Laude Doctor in Divinity who having undertaken to write his Life and interpret his Prophecies thought himself oblig'd to justifie the Heresie which was imputed to him by the Council of Lateran This was an otherwise bold undertaking then that of justifying Jansenius of the Errours which were charg'd upon him He did it yet without fear in the 67 Chap. pag. 281. of his Book printed at Naples in folio 1660. where he thus discourses That none may be scandaliz'd at what we are about to affirm they are to know that there is a vast difference between defending an Opinion condemn'd and repugnant to the Catholick Faith which is attributed to Joachim Abbot de Flore and the maintaining that Joachim Abbot of Flore has not taught those condemn'd Opinions The First would be prejudicial to the Church and to my self but the Second not at all For as that most Learned person Dominicus Gravina according to his custome saies There is a great difference between saying that General Councils can erre in matter of Right by condemning an Opinion which merits not that Censure and affirming they may erre in matter of Fact by judging such or such a Proposition was taught by an Author The Errours of Councils in matters of Fact can doe no prejudice to the Church but the Errour of a Council in matter of Right may be highly injurious to the Church And therefore we do not in the least pretend to defend the Errour attributed to Joachim by the Council of Lateran but that which we pretend is to defend the innocence of Abbot Joachim and to discharge him from this stain and ignominy Benetamen intendimus Joachimi innocentiam defendere eum à tali labe ignominia vindicare Well you will reply to me this is the Opinion of this Author He speaks the Jansenists very language and the wonder is not great there should be a Jansenist at Naples But how shall I know that this is the Sense of the Inquisition at Rome This is that you are to make good This Book has past the Inquisition where they have examin'd it with extraordinary care For the Prophecies which he authorizes are extremely curious But haply this passage escap'd them No They particularly examin'd this 281 page finding all the rest very sound and have chang'd onely one place which I shall sincerely turn you to as it stands in the page of the Corrigenda of the Book printed by order of the Inquisition the 6th of March this very year 1664. You see I bring you no old stories for news In stead of these words in this 281 leaf line 11 where 't is said Bene tamen intendimus Joachimi innocentiam defendere that is We pretend to clear the innocency of Joachim the Inquisition ordains you should put Conabimur tamen si fieri potest Joachimum defendere that is We will endeavour if it be possible to defend Joachim O how easie would it be to make Peace in the Church of France were the Jesuites but as reasonable as the Inquisition of Rome is upon this point I cannot devise why they should be so troubled to find Expedients to terminate this difference See here one to your hand and the easiest in the world There is no more to doe then to bid the pretended Jansenists for the future to say that they will no more defend the Innocency of Jansenius Bene tamen intendimus Jansenii innocentiam defendere but content themselves in saying We will endeavour if we can to defend Jansenius Conabimur si fieri potest Jansenium defendere I dare pawn my word Sir that there would not be a man of them who would refuse this Condition and that would not be yet satisfied with less so reasonable they are and moderate And with what justice can it be refus'd them Is it that Joachim's Book is more considerable then that of Jansenius which was without controversie one of the most knowing Prelates of his Age or that we owe more respect to a Constitution of P. Alexander ☞ then to the Decision of the most Universal of all the Councils Conclude we therefore Sir that the Jesuites have succeeded in the Dispute concerning Grace as they have done in that of all the rest to torment men which is no such great wonder 'T is but the natural effect of violence The Law of the World is That the weak succumb to the strongest and therefore we are not to admire that a small number of Divines who have nothing on their side save Truth and Innocence should be overthrown by the Jesuites that is to say by an Army of thirty thousand men who have for so long a time been so cruelly resolv'd upon their Ruine But what is most admirable is to see in the mean time the greatest part of the world persuaded of the justice of the Jesuites and that yet the Doctrine of those Divines should have more approbators then ever it had in which properly consists the Victory of Truth This miserable Question de Facto this Sense of Jansenius of which the Jesuites make such a noise at present is but a wretched corner of ground to which they are retir'd after their having been beaten out of all their other holds which have hitherto been the subject of the Dispute nor are they yet able to make that good They must either render or precipitate themselves that is they must either acknowledge that the matter of Fact which is the present Controversie being no matter of Heresie there can be no Heresie in all this or that obstinately defending this Errour they fall into Heresie themselves I know very well yet that this distinction between the Advantage of Persons and that of a Cause is too
to the Congregation did of their own accord and by their Letters Patent corroborated with their Seal and the subscription of the most eminent Cardinal Borgia commend and approve that my Letter and Zeal exhorting me to constancy in rendring my services to the holy See Apostolick I appeal then to the Archives of the same holy Convocation animated to make this Denunciation by a Person whom I am ready to produce as becomes the design in hand To Father Wadding a Jesuite pretended Chancellor of the University of Prague who endeavour'd my Reconciliation with the Society I promis'd my most humble services upon condition he could prove that the aforementioned Fourteen Crimes were not prohibited under penalty of mortal Sin But he immediately breaking off the discourse departs in a rage and was never seen by me since With like success some years after F. Nicolas Lensisius Exprovincial of Lithuania together with Baron Pramorus Dean of the Cathedral of Comacum in the presence of divers Noble Persons us'd much persuasion to induce me to a better intelligence with the Society But he not having the patience to hear me reade what I had written concerning those Fourteen Actions suddainly departed nor so much as ever reply'd to the Letters which I had sent him on this Argument nor did I afterwards see him any more Being by these and many of the like nature incited to denounce to the H. Apostolick See this growing or rather raging Heresie of that Society I did humbly by an Epistle dated from our Monasterie at Rome admonish Mutius Vitellescus then General of the Society concerning that Affair a Copie whereof I exhibited to Pope Urban the VIIIth of happy memory and to some of the Cardinals who are yet living designing an Exemplar of the same to the Emperour Ferdinand the Second that my judicial Declaration being thus dispos'd of might appear the more innocent when I found that Evangelical correction did nothing avail But neither receiv'd I any answer from Mutius nor observed any Reformation in the Society Thus may I have sufficiently asserted the sincerity of my Declaration as instituted according to the rule of the Holy Gospel and the Canons for the Conservation of Faith and purity of Manners But it also concerns my particular safety which I supplicate you will protect against the Jesuites who desire nothing more then my ruine yea that I were even buried alive with as much indignity to those whose Asylum I invoke as this my personal welfare concerns the integrity of the Catholick Faith Your Holinesse's most humble Servant F. Valer. Capuchinus 28 April 1659. The Copy of a Letter from a R. F. Provincial to the R. R. F. General of the Capuchins WHAT a Tragedy the Apologetick Libell of our Father Valerianus lately publish'd against the Fathers of the Society has rais'd amongst us I will briefly relate Upon the Eve of the Purification of the B. Virgin there appear'd in this our Convent of Vienna the Auditor of the Apostolick Nuncio in a Coach and with him the Secretaries of the Emperor attended with arm'd Souldiers The Auditor having call'd before him the F. Valerian the Guardian of the Place being also present denounces an Arrest against him in the name of the Pope and the Nuncio But the Secretary commands him in the Emperor's name to come without delay immediately into the Coach unless he would be violently seised by the Souldiers He willingly obeys and is led to the Imperial Hospital where he is cast into the most publick and infamous Prison and committed to the custody of the Souldiers thence to be shortly brought forth and as he saies by the command of his Holiness sent Captive to Rome In the mean time behold the whole City of Vienna in an uproar the greater part of both Sexes and of all conditions astonish'd and wondring at this leud manner of proceeding detests it as scandalous precipitate and highly prejudicial to Religion As well Secular persons as Regulars of almost all Orders and even the Grandees themselves run flocking to the Monasterie compassionate the Father's condition some of them of their own accord repair to the Emperor the Empress the Apostolical Nuncio and others of the Nobility whom it concern'd defend the case of Valerianus and of our Order supplicating that means may be found out to obviate the Scandal In the streets are heard the clamors of the People Let the good Capuchins live Let F. Valerian live He suffers thus for the truth c. Let the FF of the Society perish the authors and promoters of all these Confusions Thus they pursue them with imprecations casting dirt and stones at as many of them as come in their way I being at this time employ'd in visiting the neighboring Convents no sooner hear of this but I hasten to Vienna find the Apostolick Nuncio exceedingly perplex'd and passing the nights without sleep declare to him the danger of so great a Tumult pressing him to seek out some Expedient to appease the present and future Scandals He reply'd That he did truly compassionate us and the F. Valerian but durst not disobey the Pontifical Mandats requesting me that I would think of some means how to avert these imminent evils and in fine concludes he would conform himself Caution being given to the disposal of Caesar affirming that he was ignorant of the manner of his Imprisonment From hence I goe to other of the Nobility and at length to the Emperor himself who hearing me very graciously I declare that I came not to plead for the F. Valerian or defend his Actions but to implore Justice that by his Majestie 's Mediation the said Father might be conven'd before a competent Judge his Process heard and being found guilty might be punish'd according to his demerits as he himself also desir'd at least I earnestly beseech him that these Scandals might be repress'd and mature provision made for the honour of our Religion being my self no otherwise concern'd in the affair To this I adde how much all men are astonish'd with admiration that a Capuchin of sixty years in the Order for Life and Manners of highest reputation formerly Provincial of this Country looked upon as one likely to be made General of the whole Order and in time advanc'd to the dignity of Cardinal that had deserv'd so well of the House of Austria by whose negotiation and dexterity the Marriage between the King of Poland and the Daughter of the Emperour Ferdinand the II d succeeded happily that had manag'd divers Embassies to the same King of Poland the See Apostolical and other Princes with success meriting no less of the Roman Church Apostolick Missionary for many years defending the Faith by his Writings and Disputations exposing his life to perills not without admirable advantage of Souls the Conversion of Princes and even of some Preachers themselves That I say such a Person allied by bloud to many Nobles and Princes should with an armed band be surpris'd in his Convent or his own
publish my Apologie that all might understand the Catholicks were not defil'd with the Heresie of the Jesuites nor presuppose an exorbitant Jurisdiction in the Pope un-bounded by laws And that I am rather in such cases oblig'd by the Canon Law to presume the Innocency of his Holiness 11. Qu. Why Valerian didst thou incline to revolt from the Catholick Faith and to pass over to the Hereticks Resp 'T was never in my thoughts nay I came spontaneously and uncall'd from Prague to Vienna where the first time I stirr'd out of the Monasterie I presented my self to the Apostolical Nuncio to whom I affirm'd that I was ready to answer before a Judge and upon conviction of my fault forfeit even my head to my Accuser Notwithstanding this I was imprison'd before the Pope could take the least cognizance of it 12. Qu. Why Valerian didst thou signifie to the Apostolical Nuncio that you would not goe to Rome though you might indeed be possibly dragg'd thither upon his Holiness's command Resp I do not believe the Pope were he conscious of the fact would decree me a secular Prison to be guarded by Souldiers so far as Rome for these very Circumstances of my person namely that I am First actually engag'd in denouncing the Heresie of the Jesuites to the Pope according to the Decrees of other Popes his predecessors commanding these Denunciations under penalty of Excommunication The chief Arguments of which Declaration I could not as I said expound in five or six Epistles which would hardly suffice for the very first Secondly The Crimes perpetrated by the Jesuites as directed say they ad majorem Dei Gloriam were neither discover'd nor indeed observ'd by me at Rome but in the hereditary States of the House of Austria from whence they pretend to carry me away Thirdly The acerbity both of a Prison and of a Journey to Rome cannot be supported without my infinite confusion Fourthly My old Age craziness and affliction of mind which those who thus treat me ought to suppose together with my many private inconveniences are things which I could no waies endure without imminent peril of death Fifthly My destruction proceeding from Violences of this nature would make me appear infamous in their opinion who think well of my Judge Sixthly So great an indignity to my person would even grieve and afflict the very Order of the Capuchins and my own Allies in bloud and affinity and would in fine perturb no small part of the Christian World to which I am known by many signal and honourable titles Seventhly There lies upon me the domestick care of my four Nephews who are all of them one excepted under age the Eldest being constituted Guardian of his Brothers but still under my direction The Education of these and indeed of all our Familie of the Counts de Magnis would actually miscarry and be ruin'd in my absence The Imprisonment therefore and design'd Journey to Rome is consider'd with these and other the like Circumstances what in the opinion of wise men an innocent and generous person would abhor more then corporal Death 13. Qu. What is therefore the Crime which is objected against thee the infamie whereof should suspend the Judgment which is begun from an Execution even harsher then Death Resp That I cannot divine being as I am imprison'd in the custody of Souldiers and in vain imploring to be heard whiles the Apostolical Nuncio denies it lawfull for him to take cognizance of the affair 14. Qu. In fine Valerian produce us some Canon by virtue whereof you find it lawfull for you to dispense with a Pontifical Decree for this Dispensation is strongly objected against you Resp Alexander Papa tertius ad Archiepiscopum Ravennensem C.V.R. de Rescriptis c. Si quando aliqua c. Alexander the Third to the Archbishop of Ravenna C.V.R. de Rescriptis If at any time it fall out that we enjoyn something to your Brotherhood which may possibly seem to exasperate your mind you ought not to be troubled thereat but diligently considering the quality of the business concerning which we write unto you either reverently obey our Commands or signifie by your Letters some reasonable cause why you cannot for we will patiently suffer it when you refuse to doe what hath by wicked insinuation been suggested unto us These three Letters are translated out of Latin as they are to be seen after the Appendix Albiana publish'd with his Purgatio where writing to the Cardinals he thus concludes TErrent hujusmodi exempla Eminentissimi PP obsequentissimos sanctae Sedis Filios c. Such like Examples most Eminent Fathers terrifie the most obedient Sons of the Holy See feeling by sad experience that rigor of Obedience which a particular Order hath arrogated to it self whether by the assistances of Piety or Carnal Wisedom let those consider whom it concerns who ought to be regulated not by the votes of Clergy-men but by Laws and Customs inflicted on them by force and by the aid of the Secular arme which their Insinuations have abused and will doubtless unless the Wisedom of your Eminences intercede oblige such as are skilfull in Ecclesiastical Antiquity and the Divine-Politick-Law to inquire into the Remedies left by Christ to the Children of the Bride-Chamber by which they may emancipate themselves into that Liberty whereby the Faithfull of other Patriarchates have formerly maintain'd Communion with the Roman Church without that Severity and Subjection which the Western Church has by degrees admitted the Holy See so promoting wholesome Titles into Laws and Rites that it hath nevertheless left place for Nature to abrogate the same when they break forth thus into Abuses and Servitude But the Prudence and care of your Eminences gives us ground to hope that the Insolencies of your equally arrogant and ignorant Ministers will be corrected before the force of Nature be compell'd to exert it self beyond the Sanctions and Decrees of our Ancestors Which that it may succeed to the good both of the Roman Church and ours is the presage and praier of Your Eminence most humble Servant Tho. White To which sense but more clearly is this Paragraph out of a Book intitled La Chaine du Hercule Gaulois ou les Essays continus Chrestiens c. sur quelques importans points inconveniens des temps dedicated to Mademoiselle by her Confessor and printed at Paris M.DC.LI where speaking of the great mischiefs arising from the disputes 'twixt the Jansenists and Jesuites pag. 320. he hath this ingenuous passage ET de vray n'est il pas pitoyable de voir qu' on puisse dire avec plus de raison que du temps de l' Arianisme qu' il semble que toute l' Eglise est devenue heretique Car posé ce qui est vray c. And to say truth is it not a most deplorable thing to consider that one may with more reason affirm it then in the very time of Arianism it self that the