That in the Letters of Mission whereof the Churches do charge the Deputies which go to Synods there be a Clause of Submission in these Terms We promise before God to submit to all that shall be concluded and resolved in your holy Assembly being perswaded that God will preside by his Spirit c. To that Monsieur de Condom adds a Fact drawn from the Synod of Saint Foy Anno 1578. where some Overtures were made of Reconciliation with the Lutherans and deputed Four Men to whom was given an Absolute Power to terminate that Affair as should seem good to them Behold say they where ends the false delicateness of these Gentlemen They will not receive the Decisions of Councils they make no difficulty to put their Faith into the hands of Four Men who would be weary to be obliged to answer so many things that come to nothing What doth all that I pray you Doth that prove that we hold the Church for an Infallible Judge All that Monsieur de Condom says returns to this Reasoning or it returns to nothing Those who give their Synods power to judge Soveraignly of Points of Faith who promise Submission in the assurance that the Holy Ghost presides there and who retrench from the Communion of the Church those that would not submit to their Decision give to these Synods an Infallible Authority but the Calvinists do that therefore they give to to their Synods an Infallible Authority This Argument supposes false and concludes ill 1. It supposes false for it is not true that we promit our Synods a blind Submission What is said to them That we are perswaded that God will preside in the midst of them by his Spirit is a Clause of Civility whereof the Terms are not to be abused That signifies nothing but that we wish and hope that the Holy Ghost will direct them It is not true neither that the Synod of Sainte Foy have put the Faith of the Protestant Churches of France in deposito into the hands of Four Men for what was committed to them was not to make new Articles of Faith but only to compose a Formulary in general Terms which all the World might receive And they did not so far refer themselves wholly to their Judgment but that they reserved liberty not to follow them if they should chance to make some false Advance 2. This Argument concludes ill for from what Power we give to our Synods to Judge of the Points of Doctrine and do cut off those that will not submit to their Judgment Monsieur de Condom concludes that we attribute to them an Infallible Authority This Reasoning is worth nothing or this is good The Bishops and Archbishops do give Ordinances Councils Provincial and National in the Roman Church decide Points of Faith and cut off those that will not submit therefore they believe themselves Infallible I do not therefore think that the Bishops neither separately nor in their whole Body out of a General Council esteem themselves Infallible Must then the Priviledge of Infallibility be had to have the Power to Judge of a Point of Faith There would then be none but the Pope or the Council that could Judge thereof There must be an Order Every Society is in right of Judging of Controversies which arise in its bosom and that Member thereof that will not submit to that Judgment may be cast out of the Body Therefore we do properly complain That the Roman Church having pronounc'd against us in the Council of Trent after that did cast us out of their Body They used in that the right which appertains to every Society but we complain that they have unjustly condemned us The Question touching the Rights and Authorities of Councils and Synods deserves an Examen much more ample we will leave it as an Incident which Monsieur de Condom hath brought into his Book without necessity and only to entangle the state of the Question It imports nothing at the bottom what Authority Synods may have to know whether the Roman Religion is far distant from the Protestant which is properly the Affair here in agitation ARTICLE XVI Of the POPE and of his Authority I Follow the Order of Monsieur de Condom I finish by the Head of that great Body into which they would have us re-enter that is the Pope Here also after him a Point whereof we have made a stumbling Block without any reason What is the Pope It is the Principle of Unity the Cement of Union It 's a Head whereto all the Members have a relation and who makes the Uniting of the Church for Men know there is no Goverment more solid and that contributes more to the Conservation of States than the Monarchical What hurt then can there be to set upon the Body of the Church a Spiritual Monarch a Visible Head that may watch for its Conservation and may govern it Must not People be very Captious to make of that a cause of Separation I will regard well this Article at first under the same face that Monsicur of Condom doth The Pope is a Visible Head a Spiritual Monarch but who hath appointed this Monarch Is it possible that Men do not feel that this puts a prodigious difference between the Religion of Protestants and the Roman Religion To make it appear I suppose that the Lord Jesus Christ would have the Government of his Church should be Aristocratical and that he hath put it into the hands of such whom he hath called Bishops and Priests whom he hath invested with equal Power I know well that this Principle is contested but once more I am not oblig'd to prove any thing in this Work I am permitted to suppose my Principles and in supposing them I must shew how they are incompatible with those of that Church whereunto they would have us return If then the Lord Jesus Christ hath setled a Government Aristocratick in his Church this kind of Government is of Divine Right and if it be of Divine Right none must be permitted to change it under whatsoever pretence The kind of Government is so much of the Essence of a State That the State changes absolutely loses its Name and its Form when the Government is changed All the World knows that a Kingdom which by a general Revolt shakes off the Yoke of its legal Master and then a Popular Government a Republick which by the violence of an Usurper becomes a Monarchy are no more what they were before and they would that without ruining the Church they may make a Monarchy thereof against the intention and design of Jesus Christ We do not understand that Suppose we also that this Soveraign Power exercised at Rome be an Usurped Power It is the Principle of Protestants Selon ce Principe is it possible that they would oblige us to submit to an Usurped Power If a Tyrant or Rebel had taken the place of the Legal Prince were it not extream baseness and a Crime of
God that gave it us It is to prefer willingly Darkness to Light it 's to merit that God should cast us into a Reprobate sense and deprive us of all knowledge of his Truth Do what men can they cannot but esteem slightly such as change their Religion for carnal Considerations for a Charge for a Pension and for such like Preferments It 's then clear that it 's not honest to sollicite men to commit base and criminal Actions for which they are afterwards slighted Father Mainbourg doth rationally commend Paul the Third who forbad Cardinal Contarin to give or promise any thing to the Protestant Divines not willing that it might be said that he had corrupted them with Mony to bring them by so base a way to the Belief of the Church which employs Means much more noble to convert the Strayers It 's hard to believe that this Author hath not in view some Persons nearer him than Paul the Third than Cardinal Contarin and the Lutherans of the time past The Roman Catholick in France the Protestant in Holland and in England should never say Your Religion is an invincible Obstacle to your Fortune nothing will be done for you whilst you are of that Religion Methinks the Devil hath rendred this Conduct very suspicious and Men should think it their point of Honour not to imitate him and not to say as he I will give thee the Kingdoms of the world and their glory III. It seems also to me that it s but an ill Character in the Zeal that seeks Conversions to be so indifferent in the Choice of People It 's true that the Net of the Gospel Preaching gathers on the Sea-shoar all that is found within its compass Dirt Stones and Pearls but the Fisher-man makes his Choice he takes the Pearls and throws the rest into the Water The true Church doth inclose indeed enough of Prophane and ill Christians whereof she cannot get rid because they are born in her bosom She hath no need to fortifie the ill Party and increase it by receiving the Impious the Libertines and worldly Professours which do cast themselves into her Arms only to recover the Reputation that they have lost and upon design to procure themselves some Protectors against the Party which they have dishonoured by their Crimes The Spirit that should conduct men to Jesus Christ is a Spirit of Purity and of Renunciation to the World for the Lord saith If any will follow me he must deny himself I think therefore that the true Church should never open her Arms unto such who have always distinguished themselves by a life full of Disorders unless she may have good assurances that they will renounce Crime as well as Errour And to be assured of that there must be a long Trial. I know well what is said and thought about it It 's true say they that by these sorts of Conversions we augment not the Number of the Saints but we lessen that of the Hereticks In diminishing their Number they may happily be brought one day to be ashamed of their Singularity Their Multitude helps to make them Heady they perswade themselves to be in the right because they see themselves to be many who report it so one to another These ill Converts say they again have Families to be saved they have Children that may be made good Christians the Stock is naught but the Branches may be sanctified Whoever Reasons after this manner be he Catholick Roman or Protestant assuredly reasons but badly Although these kinds of Reasoning were not altogether delusions yet must it needs be granted that they are Maxims of a Politick purely human for indeed the Spirit of Christianism doth not commit a present Evil for the prospect of a future Good He abhors Vice and Crime he would not be beholding to it for the Salvation of many Souls though it could be the very occasion of saving some The Church casts all those dead Carkasses on the Shoar far enough from receiving them into her bosom under whatsoever pretence IV. In fine Sincerity and good Faith are in my Judgment an inseparable quality of true Zeal The Prince of Darkness often transforms himself into an Angel of Light but never doth an Angel of Light take the form of the Prince of Darkness Falshood often abuses the Truth to support it self but Truth can never make any good use of Falshood This is to borrow the Devils Weapons for to fight for Jesus Christ and that cannot have any good success for there is nothing common between Christ and Belial It 's true that pious Frauds are no New things Of a long time have Miracles been fained Oracles supposed and Books published under the Names of Authors who were known to have some weight with those whom they had a design to convert It 's that which hath given birth to the Oracles of the Sybils to the Books of Mercurius Trismegistus and to the false Visions of the Pastor and to so many other Deceits contrived with a good Intention But this Conduct though it be ancient is not therefore become better by growing old Never will Deceit prescribe against Probity and good Faith It will always be true That a Zeal which deceives Men to convert them is a Zeal that is false ignorant and misunderstood There is hardly any kind of Deceit which is not practised to fortifie ones own Party and to diminish the opposite Party But here is that which is most ordinarily used and with less Secrecy It 's that on one side they paint out the Religion which they would combat with colours most black and hideous they render it monstrous that it may cause horrour they dissemble what Good it hath they exaggerate what it hath of Evil they give a Criminal Character to all its Expressions they make Heresies of all Tenets they ascribe to it what it doth not hold they disguise with the hue of Infidelity what it holds On the other part they fairly colour the Religion whereof they undertake the defence they draw the Curtain on that which might scandalize it they give an air of Innocency to their most criminal Practices they cover with fair Names the foulest Things It 's a kind of discredit whereof each Party accuses the opposite Party the Roman Catholick accuses the Protestant and the Protestant accuses the Roman Catholick It 's a Process that one cannot decide but by examining to the bottom to see who is in the wrong and who it is that imputes or imputes not As I do not here pretend to be uninterest'd being a declared Protestant I make no difficulty to pronounce that our Side is alone in the good Faith yet will I not be believed upon my Word But the thing is so clear and so well known of all the World that I could suppose it without taking the pains to prove it They have black'd Us with the most horrid Imputations and it 's a case of so great notoriousness that I know not whether it be
fair dealing but at this day things are very much altered the first Method hath not been found significant therefore the second is now taken up yet have they not universally renounced the former Italy Spain and most part of Germany and even of France either know not or relish not these Sweetnings Those that are grown old in the old Opinions do also respect the ancient Expressions as Consecrated and find it not difficult to use the Politicians as Prevaricators I wish they would observe these considerable Words of Father Mainbourg in his History of Lutheranism These pretended Expositions of the Faith which suppress or dissemble or express in ambiguous Terms only or too much sweetned a part of the Doctrine of the Church do satisfie neither the one nor the other which do equally complain that Men do mince it in an affair so delicate as Faith is where Men cannot fail in one point but that they must fail in all We understand well what he would say and whom he aims at it 's neither at Cardinal Contaren nor at the Authors of ancient Enoticks it 's to those that do Byass it at this day in their Expositions of the Catholick Faith Father Mainbourg writes like an honest Man he is most able and hath the right Sense of things There are then able and honest Men in the Roman Church who disapprove these ways of Sweetning and dare to say and to print it But there are others that think to prosper better in the Conversion of those whom they call Hereticks in stripping the Roman Church of all those terrible Images wherewith others have cloathed it Happily they may be of the same Apprehension with the others but they judge it good to express themselves otherwise to bring nearer again those Spirits which they had scared by their hard Manners Yet would I believe that among those moderate Persons there are many that do deal fairly that would willingly have things as they express them who if they were believed would reduce the Worship of Images to a little matter and would accommodate themselves in divers respects to the Weakness of those whom they consider as separate from the Church I believe the Author of the Saving Advises of the Virgin Mary to her indiscreet Devotes is of this Order and I doubt not but he hath many Approbators But though he had infinitely more that alters nothing at the bottom The Roman Church remains still the same in her Worship in her Canons and in her Dogma's Among all those Works which have for their aim the Sweetning of things and to lead Christians into a Spirit of Reconciliation there 's none more famous than the little Book of my Lord of Condom that hath for Title Exposition of the Catholick Doctrine about Matters of Controversie There was never any Work whereof the Author and his Party have made more boast especially since it 's fortified with the Approbations of Rome They look thereon as on the triumph of the Roman Church and they pretend that those changes of Religion that are at this day sufficiently ordinary and which they call Numerous Conversions are the effects of my Lord of Condom's Method I grant that I am not able enough to enter into the Merit of that piece I see nothing therein but what was written long ago My Lord of Condom hath not been the first who hath essay'd to disguise the Doctrine of the Roman Church It 's more than fity years since that this Method of Sweetning hath been used to draw Men and though it had not been printed it 's certain that it hath been used an hundred times by word of Mouth and face to face Except the delicate Dress the sweet and insinuating Manners of my Lord of Condom and some bold Propositions in the Subject of Images I see nothing there of his own nor that should have gained him so many Approbations Notwithstanding mens Spirits are so affected till labour be taken to recover them from it The Roman Catholick considers this Book as the Buckler of his Faith and the mighty Instrument of Conversions and the Protestant looks thereon as on a Ghost whereof he dreads the Illusions I am deceived if it be so dreadful as men imagine All its St eagth consists in disguising things from us and making us to behold them in another face Therefore there is need only to make that appear in its Natural state which he doth represent through a Veil to us That Work hath been Answer'd most learnedly and solidly and if I had no other design but that of Answering it I believe I should not trouble my Pen about it but here I much less purpose to Answer my Lord of Condom than to make a Book opposite to his All that Art and dexterity can imagine to engage those of our Religion to embrace his own is sprinkl'd through his Book and I will put into mine what I believe most capable to preserve them from the peril whereinto he would cast them My Lord of Condom presents his Religion to us under a Veil which he hath composed by an extraordinary effort of Spirit He would have Us to behold her only through that Veil But he may take it well though we have not that complaisance for him because it might be fatal to our Salvation I will therefore draw this Veil paint out the Roman Religion according to Truth whereto nothing can be reproached and shew it in its Natural complexion This is in my mind the best Preservative that we can give our People and particularly it 's of absolute necessity to ruinate the Design of my Lord of Condom Without having precisely a design to combat him yet will I fight him every where because I shall meet him every where and will be obliged to take off the Veil which he hath spread upon the Worship and the Dogma's of his Church I will bind my self also to follow his Order because he hath nothing but what is natural enough One may easily judge that the Affairs whereinto I chuse to enter is a question of Fact purely I will not engage my self to the discussion of the Right I do not enquire here which hath best Reason whether the Roman Church or the Protestant it 's enough to know what is taught both in the one and in the other Religion and not at all whether it be ill for either of them to teach so Therefore will I forbear proving and will not so much as touch those Proofs that my Lord of Condom brings in for his own Party But before we enter into the particulars I believe it fit we should make some general Reflexions ARTICLE I. General Reflexions upon my Lord of Condom's Book FIrst To know a Book well we must enter if possible into the Spirit of it and see within what prospect it hath been composed The Work now in hand is one of those that hath been produc'd by the design of reuniting the two Religions in France a design which some
Fathers who made up the Council To that those Gentlemen say It s one thing to interpret what is obscure and doubtful another thing to propound what is clear and use it to destroy false Impressions It seems to me that those Words signifie that it is not true that Glosses have been made on the Council of Trent they have only related its Terms so clear that they are capable of destroying all the false Idea's that Men had of its Doctrine Can that be said in Conscience that they have related only the very Words of the Council It 's said about the Invocation of Saints That we pray to them in that same Spirit that we pray to our Brethren which are on the Earth to pray for us and with us to our Common Master in the Name of our Common Mediator who is Jesus Christ Are those the Words of the Council Doth it say They should not be invok'd but in that manner and in the same Spirit that we pray the Saints that are on Earth to pray for us I would make Judges thereof such as have Eyes and can but read for these be the Words of the Council according to my Lord of Condom 's Version Because that the Saints who reign with Jesus Christ do offer to God their Prayers for Men it 's good and useful to invoke them in a Suppliant manner and to have recourse to their Aid and to their Succour to impetrate of God his Blessing by his Son Jesus Christ our Lord who alone is our Saviour and our Redeemer About Satisfactions my Lord of Condom saith That which is called Satisfaction is after all but the Application of the Satisfaction of Jesus Christ And the Council of Trent saith That in suffering and satisfying for our sins we are made conformable to our Lord Jesus Christ who also hath satisfied for our Sins Upon the Subject of Images the Advertisement saith That we serve not Images but serve our selves of Images to raise up our selves to the Originals And the Council saith That Men must render to Images the Respect and Veneration which is due to them that they must be kissed mens Heads be uncovered and prostrate themselves before them These three Examples may suffice to shew that those Gentlemen do not deal fairly when they say That they go not against the Intention of Pius the Fourth his Bull and that they make no Glâ—ss upon the Conncil of Trent But I am not minded that we should draw a Process against them about it Let them avoid the Ordinance of Pius the Fourth I consent Let them interpret the Council against the Intention of the Bull. I do not think we have any right to oppose it Those Gentlemen do make Rules and have such regard to them as they think good That is not our business And after all that Prohibition of Pius the Fourth hath taken but little place A thousand Controversies have been raised or continued since that Council and every one of the Parties hath explained it to his own favour But what we say and have right to say is That we are not obliged to receive the Interpretations of the Council of Trent opposite to those that have been given us by all the Doctors of the School which we daily read in the universal Practice and constant Use of the Roman Church The Author of the Advertisement may well say That we will not believe neither the Council nor its Catechism nor their Confession of Faith nor the Bishops nor the Pope himself We believe our Eyes we believe what we read and what we see Though at this day all the Roman Church should tell us as this Author doth We do not serve Images God forbid but we serve our selves of Images to raise us up to the Originals We would not believe it and would not be obliged to believe it seeing we see every day the contrary What Obstinacy say they the Bishops Cardinals and the Pope himself approve all these Explications of my Lord of Condom and that of the Author of the Advertisement and you 'l believe that Persons of so great a Character are either Cheats that dissemble their Sentiments or Ignaro's that know not their Religion I wish they would not press us about that We do not believe those Gentlemen to be ignorant they know their Religion well enough but prudently men may often say of what they know that only which they think capable of leading them to the End that they aim at They would diminish the Aversion we have for the Worship and the Doctrines of the Roman Church Prudence therefore would have them to keep from our sight that which offends us and that a Curtain be drawn thereon Let 's do those Gentlemen as much Honour as they can ask to my understanding Let 's believe that they deal fairly that is that sincerely they would have things to be as they express them Really we no ways doubt but there are at this day in the Roman Church many Persons who disapprove the Excesses which are practised in that Church about devotion to the Creatures They willingly wish That Images were not served with Religious Worship they would bring a great allay to the Invocation of Saints if they m ght be believ'd yea happily they might go further I grant that my Lord of Condom and the Archbishops and Bishops his Approvers may have this Sentiment and that we may put into the same rank the Cardinals de Bona and Sigismund of Chigy the most Reverend P. Hyacinth Libâ—lli Archbishop of Avignions the most R. F. Capi Suâ—â—â—i Master of the Sacred Palace my Lord Michael Ange Ricci Secretary to the holy Congregation of Indulgences the Father M Laurent Branâ—ari de Laurea the Abbot Gradi the Bishop and Princes of Munster and the Pope himself Innocent the Eleventh now sitting What doth all that but confirm us in the Thoughts that we have reason to condemn the Excesses that are now condemn'd by Persons which had a great interest to justifie them Put can that oblige us not to believe our Eyes not to believe what we see and what we read Before they can have any right to press us thereabout things should be put into that state wherein they say that they are I hope that entring into the particulars we shall clearly shew that things are in that state wherein we conceive them and not in that wherein they would have us regard them Mean while I will say that the Providence of God permits for our Justification that in an Age wherein they would perswade us that White is black there arise from time to time some Father Cressets that do revive all that Alexis of Salo the Bernardine de Bustis and the Salazars have said most excessively and hainously upon this matter Those Works are printed in the Capital of the Kingdom with Approbation with Priviledge and with all the marks of Honour that might possibly be given in the very front thereof
he see Altars and thereon a Sacrifice of the Body and Blood of a God-man who every day after some Mystical Ceremonies descends from Heaven and comes to place himself really under the Accidents of the Consecrated Bread and Wine He sees I say a Sacrifice of Human Flesh but invisible which is done with a great Shew and Attendance of Ceremonies for the Propitiation of the Sins of the Dead and for all the Necessities of the Living He sees an Object which appears to be meer Bread which he must be made to adore as his God his Redeemer and Master He sees Men that make their Prayers and that sing Sacred Hymns but he meets with the Veil of a Language strange and unknown which is diffused through all this Worship and doth conceal it quite from Vulgar Eyes By the favour of an Interpreter he penetrates through this Veil and under it he sees Prayers and Invocations addressed to Creatures whereto are given the magnificent Names of Mediators Mother of Mercifulness Queen of Heaven Refuge of Sinners Gate of Paradice c. from whom Men do request to be delivered from Maladies recovery of Health to be cured of the Languors of their Souls to be loosed from the Bonds of their Sins to receive increase of Virtues to be delivered from Hell and to be put into the possession of the Glory of Heaven by their Merits and by their Intercession He sees a Religion abounding in Ceremonies whereof the Ministers are cloath'd with Habits extraordinary and mystical He sees their Crosses Holy Water and a great external Shew altogether pompous and compounded with an incredible Number of different Parts Piercing yet further he sees Men set upon their Tribunals at the feet whereof they shew him other Men on their Knees confessing their Sins to them and expect Remission from them and he hears those Spiritual Judges on those Tribunals who impose on Sinners Penitences Fastings Pilgrimages Hair-Cloth Cilices rough Shifts to satisfie thereby God and the Church who preach to them That all the Sins committed before Baptism are expiated solely and entirely by the Blood of Jesus Christ but that every Man must satisfie for his Sins committed after Baptism That tell them That Men must labour to merit Eternal life by good Works That teach them That the good Works wherein God takes pleasure are among other Devotions for the Saints Pilgrimages Vows tedious Tautologies of certain Prayers observed in the Honour of some of those Saints and of their Images Who give them to observe a long List of Ecclesiastical Laws about Fasts distinctions of Meats Corporal Mortifications That declare to them That the Non-observance of those Laws of the Church will damn them as much as the violation of Gods Commands Which tell them also That after this life they cannot hope to enter immediately into Heaven but that they must pass through a place of Torment where they shall be examined happily for many Ages by a cruel Fire until they have intirely satisfied for those Sins for which they could not make Satisfaction during this life He sees Priests upon those Tribunals to give with a Tone of Authority and of Power the Remission of Sins to those Penitents and to tell them I absolve you They hear them say That Men must receive their Orders and those of the Church as so many Sentences from Heaven That this Church is infallible and exempt from Errour that She is Judge without Appeal of all Debates That the Holy Scripture in regard of us holds her Authority but only from Her that we could not know the Divinity of the Word of God but only by the Testimony of the Church that She is the Interpreter of her Sense and that the Interpretations which she gives though they seem contrary to Sense to Reason and even to some places of this very Scripture ought to be received with a Soveraign Submission Above those Men which are only called Priests he sees several Dignities but above all he sees a great Monarch Spiritual and Temporal who calls himself Jesus Christs Lieutenant the Vible Head of the Church the Mouth of God who pronounces Oracles and who can never Erre who is above Emperours and Kings who can establish them and who can destroy them Behold what our Infidel may see in the Roman Church Neither he nor I do pronounce any thing we say not whether it be good or bad Going out from thence he enters into the Temples of the Protestants wherein he sees nothing of what he had seen in that place whence he came forth He sees there no Images no Altars no Sacrifices no Pomp no Ceremony They tell him for a reason of this difference God is jealous of his Honour he would not have any Service done to Images he hath expresly forbidden it in the Second Command of his Law The Sacrifices of Christians are Praises and Thanksgivings Works of Mercy Offerings and Alms these are the Oblation of the Heart and Affections and their Perfumes are their Prayers We have no Altars for since that Jesus Christ did Sacrifice his Sacred Person for our Salvation having no more Sacrifices we need no more Altars Our Infidel lending his Ear to what is said hears indeed nothing but Prayers and Hymns which are Sung Sermons Prayers addressed to God no Angels no Saints invoak'd They tell him Prayer is the Principal of our Homages and the first act of our Adoration therefore we reserve it for God We believe that we should offer a great Wrong to the Divinity if we did divide his Honour between Him and his Creatures They shew to this Infidel a small number of Sacraments administred with great simplicity Nothing is disguised from him They tell him What you see on this Table is true Bread and true Wine but it 's Bread and Wine mystical It is the Sacrament of Jesus Christ crucified it is the Symbol of his Flesh and Blood and the precious Pledge of the Love of God the Seal of our Justification and One of the Means of our Sanctification But the Grace which is adjoyned doth not destroy Nature Instead of causing him to adore what his Senses tell him to be Bread They tell him Take heed lest under any Pretence whatever you render to the Creature that Honour which is due only to the Creator for he that said Thou shalt worship the Lord thy God and him alone shalt thou serve will not be paid with any Excuses it will not avail to say I supposed that my Saviour came under that appearance of Bread Our Infidel sees a Religion which keeps nothing secret from him under pretence of Mystery They do not tell him about the Word of God Walk therein as in a dangerous Way either read not at all or read with a Spirit of Submission for all that the Church hath taught you Do not believe what your Eyes will seem to tell you about your Lectures and whatsoever you may meet withal conclude nothing that may be opposite to the Faith
of your Doctors On the contrary They lay before him the Scripture on the Tribunal of the Church They tell him Obey your Leaders suffer not your selves to be conducted by the false Lights of your own Reason Submit to the Mysteries but let not your Submission be blind consult the Scripture read instruct your selves and believe nothing upon the Witness of Men Do not rest but upon the Testimony of God His Word is clear solid sufficient for your Instruction His Authority is Soveraign and Independent of any other He sees not in the Worship of that Religion any strange Language which diffuses Darkness through all which conceals Mysteries from the Eyes of Ignorant Ones all is naked all is open all is simple He sees he hears all that is done all that is said every one Prays in the Tongue he understands and which is understood in the Country where he is This Infidel sees Preachers which exhort him to Repentance to Mortification to renouncing the Vanities and the Idols of the World but they do not impose on him the Necessity of declaring all the Motions of his Soul to a Man they order him to confess primarily to God then they advise him to make choice of a wise Director to discover with Liberty to him the Wounds of his own Conscience and to ask his Advices They tell him That all Human Satisfactions are incapable of paying the Justice of God That our Lord Jesus Christ hath paid for us abundantly That his Merit is granted to us by a gratuitous Mercy and that the true Satisfaction which God requires is the Contrition of the Heart Faith Charity and Amendment of Life They do not charge him with the multitude of External Observations of Fasts of Macerations of Pilgrimages They say to the contrary That bodily Exercise is profitable to little but that solid Piety hath the Promises of this present life and of that which is to come They labour to draw him out of the Security that the Worldlings are plunged in but they seek not to retain him in perpetual Terrours They tell him There is no Salvation for the Sinner that perseveres in Impenitency but that the true Penitent may be assured that God will shew him Mercy They assure him That if his Sins be pardoned him in this life they shall also be pardoned him in the other too and that there is no Purgatory nor Torments through which Men are to pass to arrive to Paradise They confess to him That they have not the power to remit Sins They tell him that that appertains to God only but they tell him That God never refuses that Grace to those that ask it with the Spirit of Humility In fine He sees nothing Pompous in the Government or that may relish of the Spirit of the World No Monarchs no Spiritual Soveraigns He sees none but Conductors that are Men of an equal Authority or if he sees in some places within that Church some Bishops and some Archbishops He understands that those Persons make Profession to have no other Head for the Spirituals but Jesus Christ and no other for their Temporals than those which God hath established in the World by his Providence If this Infidel who hath thus cast his Sight upon these two Religions be wise he will ask time to think of his Choice and will pronounce nothing upon what he hath seen But in Conscience can any Man believe that this Man who hath no other light but that of good Sense can perswade himself that these two Parties make up but one Religion that it is the same thing that their Differences are not Essential In one He sees Altars and Sacrifices in the other he sees none In the one he hears them invoke Saints and Angels in the other he sees they content themselves to reverence their Name and to invoke God In the one he sees Images to be served in the other he sees a mortal aversion for that Worship In the one he understands Nothing in the other he understands all If this Man suffers himself to be conducted by his Natural Lights he will without doubt believe that these two Religions are absolutely different and I cannot imagine that he could believe what my Lord of Condom saith That the Disputes of these two Parties can be nullified by explaining some Terms and that what remains hath nothing Capital and that can hurt the foundations of the Faith ARTICLE III. That we agree not about Fundamental Points BUt happily may some say That this general Review of the two Religions is proper only to make an Illusion because that in this Method Men judge only by appearances Now its true that they are in an Appearance of great distance whereas in examining things in particulars and at the bottom it may be that they would go near to accord about those things and should only dispute about Terms That might happily be and therefore I will not forbear entring into a particular Examen of each Article First My Lord of Condom saith That we all agree about the Foundations of the Faith that the Doctrines which we esteem Fundamental are all believed and professed in the Roman Church He brings for Witness thereof Monsieur Daillé who saith in his Book entituled Faith founded upon the Scriptures That all Fundamental Articles are without Contest that the Roman Church professes to believe them That in Truth we do not hold all the Opinions of that Church but that we hold all their Beliefs or Creances My Lord of Condom lays another Maxim which he draws from our Principles It's That if one agrees with the Foundations and then lays down Opinions which does overthrow those Foundations by Consequences we must not impute those Consequences to him who disavows The Opinion of the Lutherans about the real Presence of the Body of Jesus Christ in the Eucharist destroys the Human Nature of our Lord Jesus Christ by a lawful Consequence but the Lutherans disavow that Consequence therefore we will not impute it to them He would have us to have the same Equity for his Church For Example She establishes the Sacrifices of the Mass She lays down the Intercession of Saints She ordains Penances and Satisfactions We say That the first of them destroys the Sacrifice of Jesus Christ that the second prejudices his Mediation that the others are injurious to the Super-abounding fulness of his Merits But they say they are only Consequences which the Roman Church disowns therefore we may not impute the same to them without Calumny I might have many things to say thereabout If I had designed to make a great Book but I will restrain my self within this That this Consideration cannot be a Means of Reunion nor a Reason of our Re-entrance into the Roman Church First Because it 's not true that both Parties agree about all the Protestants esteem to be Fundamental There are Three general Foundations in Religion First That there is a God who is to be adored The
Second That there is but one God and we ought to serve and adore none but him The Third That this God is to be served in Jesus Christ joyntly with him and according to the Religion which he hath taught The first is the foundation of all Religion in general The second the Foundation of the true Religion in that it embraces the Religion of Moses and that of Christ And the Third is the Foundation of the Christian Religion The Roman Church receives the first Foundation That God is to be served and adored She receives the Third but in Words for she makes indeed Profession to adore God according to the Religion which Jesus Christ hath taught but we pretend that her Worship is not suitable to her Profession They must not answer me that we are to blame to pretend that Happily may we be to blame but at present the Question is not to know whether we have reason but only to know if in our Principles the Roman Church destroys some Foundation of the Faith Now she destroys according to us this One therefore it s impossible that we can joyn with her But she destroys much more openly the Second of those Foundations in that she serves and adores that which is not God according to Protestants We must adore a God behold the first Foundation and the Roman Church receives it We must adore none but God behold the second Foundation which is no less important than the first and that is it which the Roman Church absolutely destroys She adores the Sacraments of the Eucharist Yea say they but it 's in the Supposition that the Eucharist becomes the Humanity of Jesus Christ that is to say the Humanity of God But that is nothing to the present Question It suffices me that it 's most evident that according to our Principles the Roman Church adores another besides God and by Consequence she also destroys according to us one of the principal Foundations of the Faith My Lord of Condom will then permit me to tell him That he hath not read in any of our Authors that our Church agrees with his in the Foundations of the Faith Monsieur Daillé hath not said so and if he had said it I would make no difficulty to say That he was deceived We only say That we believe nothing but what the Roman Church believes with us but that we believe not all that the Roman Church believes We distingnish Affirmative Articles from the Negative We agree with the Roman Church about Affirmative Articles viz. we all believe that there is a God that he is to be adored that there is a Jesus Christ that he is dead risen again ascended to Heaven God blessed for ever with the Father that he is the Redeemer of the World c. But we agree not about the Negative Articles and among them there are some that respect the Foundations such is that whereof we speak Thou shalt adore none but God We make no difficulty to say That the Worship of Images and Invocation of Saints do also destroy this Foundation because there is no act of Religion that is not an Adoration So Men cannot serve religiously any Creature without violating this Command Thou shalt worship the Lord thy God and him only shalt thou serve 2. I subjoyn That the Fundamental Verities wherein we agree with the Roman Church cannot be a Means of Reunion with her because of the multitude of Opinions which she hath added to those Foundations and that those Additions are absolutely opposed to the purity of the Faith I say that in retaining the Verities which the Roman Church retains and even some over and above one might make a monstrous Religion and Soveraignty Idolatrous for Example Suppose that some Men should believe that there is but One God that we must adore None but him that Jesus Christ is the Redeemer of the World that he is truly God and truly Man that there is a Paradise and a Hell c. But who should perswade himself that all Creatures are united to God in so particular a manner that they ought to be worshipp'd with God That the Sun for Example is the Eye of the Divinity that in that quality he ought to be worshipp'd that the Rivers are his Arms whereby he embraces the Earth and because of that one may Sacrifice to them Those People would say I worship but one God I believe in Jesus Christ but I believe that that God is every where and that God is All and because of that I adore that All wherein he is If the Ubiquitans in the Supposition they make That the Humanity of Christ is in all the Spaces and in all the Bodies should come to conclude That Men must worship all the Bodies of the World would they not be Idolaters Nevertheless they would retain all the Foundations of the Faith which the Roman Church retains As for what they say That one must not impute unto People the Consequences which they disavow I Answer That the question is not here about Consequences which arise from certain Errors which Men defend but whereof they disown the Results The question is or Consequences owned and that we may impute to them that avow them Jesus Christ est reellement dans l'Eucharistic Behold the Principle or Errour Then must we adore the Sacrament behold the Consequence and a Consequence avowed We must do all that the Church commands Behold the Principle Therefore we must serve Images and invoke Saints behold the Consequences which are owned I might produce an hundred more but these suffice me I add thereto That there are Consequences which though they be disowned they cease not to subsist Those are they that arise from the very Actions and Practises If a Man should give a Box on the Ear to another and say that no wrong is done to another but when one hath no right to strike and therefore denies to have done him wrong because it was not his Intention to wrong him or because he had right to strike him because he denies the Consequence shall it be less true The Roman Church invokes Saints serves Images adores the Sacrament of the Eucharist We tell her She offers injury to God in imparting to Others a Worship which is due to him alone Thereupon she Answers It 's a Consequence you draw but what we deny In Consciente is such a Justification to be received We must distinguish well between Speculative Consequences which arise from a Doctrine and those that are Practical and which arise from Worship It 's of the former that we must understand this Rule of Equity That we must not impute Consequences to those that disavow them But that cannot be applied to the Consequences of Practice In fine When we accuse the Roman Church to do wrong to God in imparting Adoration to others to the Sacrifice of the Cross in adding another Sacrifice to the Satisfaction of Jesus Christ in establishing Human Satisfactions It 's not
true that these things may be called Consquences and that we may be justified of that Accusation by denying them That is clear by this Example If one divide the Authority of the Prince Soveraign among his Subjects without his Permission I maintain That injury is done to him by that very thing and that one should not be received to say I deny I do injury to my Soveraign in giving one part of his Soveraign Authority to Others That 's a Consequence which I disown The Injury consists in the Act it self that is done and not in a Consequence which arises from the Action So to give a new Sacrifice new Intercessours and new Objects of a Religious Worship it 's directly to offend God the only Object of Religion It 's to oppose the Unity and Perfection of the Christian Sacrifice It 's to do injury to the only Intercessour and that by the very Actions which are done and not by Consequences which arise from those Actions But at least will they say You are obliged to grant that the most part of the Errours of the Roman Church are not Capital Thereupon I say Three things First That it 's enough if there be two or three Capital Errours and even One alone in a Religion to render intolerable that whith otherwise might have been tolerable The Second thing that I say is that the Errours which every one being apart might have been tolerated if they were alone cannot be born with when they are in a great Number A Life that should be wholly charged with those Sins which the Roman Church calls Venial and that should have no good Work at all would undoubtedly lead to Eternal death although every one of those Sins taken apart would not destroy Grace A Religion that should gather an infinite number of Practises of Superstitions and Errours whereof none were Capital could not be suffered nevertheless for it is a Capital Affair to bury the Truth in so great a number of Errours In fine I say that the Roman Church hath rendred Capital those of her Errours that would not otherwise be such since she hath made Articles of Faith of them She obliges under pain of Anathema that is to say Pain of Eternal damnation to believe that the Books of Maccabees are Canonical that Concupiscence after Baptism is no more Sin that the involuntary Motions of that Concupiscence are not Sins that Baptism is of an absolute necessity that Order is a true Sacrament that Marriage is not dissolved by Adultery and an hundred things of this Nature If she had received those Opinions without obliging others to receive them they might have been tolerated but as soon as she hath made them Articles of Faith they become intolerable For it 's a mortal Sin to receive Errours as Verities Fundamental It 's a horrid Crime to condemn to Hell Men that have but light Errours Now the Roman Church by her Anathema's obliges me to damn those who have but light Errours In fine It 's a black baseness to make Profession by Oath to believe as Capital Verities and necessary Ones such Opinions as we know to be Errours And that is it the Roman Church would oblige us to In a word I think to Reason justly in Reasoning thus All the Articles of Faith are Fundamental Points because they cannot be rejected without being Anathema's The Roman Church of those things which we might have considered as light Errours hath made Articles of Faith which may not be rejected without a direful Anathema Then hath the Roman Church in that regard those Opinions that could have pass'd for being of little importance Fundamental Points and in our regard Capital Errours And from thence it seems to me to be clear that after the decisions of the Council of Trent all Reconciliation is impossible with the Roman Church Because the Question is no more of tolerating light Errours but to believe them and make profession thereof and of damning all those that believe them not and that is it which an honest Man and a Christian cannot do ARTICLE IV. That the Worship forbidden of God cannot terminate in him BEhold the Second Principle of that Union which my Lord of Condom propounds it 's That the Religious Worship in the Pag. 17. Church of Rome terminates in God If the Honour she gives to the Holy Virgin and the Saints may be called Religious it 's because it relates necessarily to God He would conclude thence That in retaining our Principle that every Religious Honour is to be related to God we can without hurt to our Conscience partake of the Worship of the Roman Church seeing that she teaches That every Religionâ— Worship is to be referr'd to God as to its necessary End 1. I wish that my Lord of Condom had cited to us some Text of the Council of Trent which might assure us That all Religious Worship is terminated in God I see there that we must invoke Saints because they reign with Jesus Christ and because they intercede for us c. I read there no more I conceive there is a little difference between invoking a Saint for reference to God and terminate a Religious Worship to God It 's true that the Roman Chuch invokes Saints by respect to God that is to say because they are the Saints of God because they govern under God because they have merited with God because they intercede before God for Men. If those Saints should have no relation to God no doubt Men would not serve them But is not this to impose visibly upon the World to say That because of that all Religious Worship is terminated in God Because that a Favourite hath the Princes Ear that he disposes of the places of the State under his Authority that he obtains of him what he will he is courted a thousand Homages are done to him do those Honours terminate in the Prince because of that Is he bound to own them and regard them as if done to himself A Man that would say such a thing would not he render himself ridiculous Who ever heard that Worship doth not terminate in that Person which is the immediate Object thereof Those Gentlemen conceive that they have right to say what they please and that we are bound to believe them on their Word 2. But though it should be the Intention of those that invoke Saints to terminate all their Worship in God would that Intention suffice to effect the thing If it were so there would never have been any Idolaters that is to say Persons that had adored Images or Idols For there was never any Religion so brutish as to terminate their Worship upon Brass or Wood Silver or Gold whereof the Image is compounded If any Person have done it it must not be imputed to the Religion Those Idolaters referr'd their Worship to the Deity which was represented by the Idol The Israelites had not offended God in the Worship of the Golden Calf for it 's as certain
proves that the figurative Sense is a By-way He calls to his help the Types of the Old Testament He abridges what the Gentlemen of Port-Royal have said of the Laws and Rules of the Language to prove that these Words This is my Body cannot be taken in a figurative Sense Yea he refutes and he answers he labours to elude the Proof which we draw from these Words Do this in remembrance of me he expounds our Doctrine and thence draws Arguments for himself I grant that all these ways agree not with my designed Method and I should reckon my self to wander if I should Monsieur of Condom therein I still remember his Prayer which he makes to him that shall desire to answer this Treatise He is intreated to consider that if he would advance any thing he must not undertake to confute the Doctrine which it contains Monsieur of Condom will permit me to tell him That for to advance in his design he should not have undertaken to prove his Doctrine which he had only a design to explain Between him and us at present the Question is not about the Truth of Doctrines but only about their importance The Question is Whether many Disputes may vanish away by the Explications of the Faith of the Roman Church And if the Disputes remaining be as Capital as we would at first have made Men to believe He had undertaken to prove that these latter Disputes according to our Principles do not hurt the foundations of the Faith These are his Words Behold what was his Business and what he should have done But he changes quite he puts an Illusion on us He had promised us one thing and doth another for instead of proving that the Doctrines of Reality and Transubstantiation according to our Principles do not wound the Foundations of the Faith he proves that they are true I confess that this Turn is dextrous having almost nothing to say to colour a Doctrine of that importance and not willing to pass it by without speaking thereof he hath taken the part of proving it Without scruple I will pass over his Proofs Not but that I would do Justice to Monsieur of Condom and would aknowledge here as every where else his Wit his Delicateness and his Dexterity in turning curiously his ways of Reasoning But in fine Methinks I have read nothing in this place but what hath been said many times and whereto sufficient Answers have been often return'd It 's very hard to terminate so grand an Affair with so short an Instruction so short as we find here I will content my self therefore to conjure those who have any care of their Salvation to consult such Authors as have written on this Matter if the difficulties they may find in this place do occasion any such Scruple to arise in them I can hardly believe that such a thing may happen and I think that those who shall suffer themselves to be taken thereby shall have first designed to be deceived In all that Monsieur de Condom saith about the Eucharist there is nothing that maketh for his Subject and tends to our purpose but the Explication which he giv s to our Doctrine and what he calls Reflexion on the Doctrine of the Eucharist There first he confesses that there is nothing wherein we are so effectually opposite So the Dispute cannot be nullified by the Explications of our Beliefs Very far from that the more we explain to the bottom our selves saith he the more we shall find our selves contrary He also grants that it is an important Affair There is nothing saith he which appears more important in our Controversies since the Question is about the Presence of Jesus Christ himself So that Monsieur de Condom cannot yet do here what he had at first proposed to do that is to shew That the remaining Disputes are not so Capital as we at first would have made Men believe He goes yet beyond all that He pretends that it is the only important Controversie and that if we can satisfie ovr selves about it the rest shall vanish easily away That is it which these Words signifie One may wholly dissipate or reduce to very few things the others Subjects of their Complaints so that things be explained About all that we have somewhat to say First We would fain have Monsieur de Condom and all those Gentlemen which do sollicite us to a Reunion to discharge themselves of that Conceit That this the sole important Matter I grant that Reality with all its Attendants is the most important of our Controversies And its Attendants are Transubstantiation Adoration the Sacrifice the Retranchment of the Cup and Masses without Communicants Yet though they could satisfie us about them these Doctors may know that the rest would suffice to retain us in the Separation that we are in We will never worship Creatures nor Images under whatsoever Pretence It is not a business less Capital than that of the Eucharist We never will partake of a Worship composed of so many Ceremonies so opposite to the Spirit of Christian Religion We never will suffer the Veil of an Unknown Tongue to cover Divine Service We never will yield to a Discipline so relaxed as is that which settles Indulgences and will never receive that great Pomp of Human Satisfactions We never will acknowledge an Authority Superiour to that of Gods Word and will never receive any other Universal Head of the Church but Jesus Christ Let none be deceived all that appears Capital to us It is a great Illusion which the Doctors of the Roman Church offer continually to our People They suppose to them that Real Presence is the only important Affair that we have with them and that to the end they may conclude that the rest is nothing seeing this Point is tolerable according to us seeing we tolerate it in the Lutherans I therefore Advertize all that have a care of their Salvation to keep well their Guard on that side to repulse this Temptation holding for certain what I now declared That besides Real Presence we have many more things than needs to separate us from the Communion of the Roman Church Another thing whereof Monsieur de Condom shall permit me to Advertize him is That granting the importance of the Controversie of Reality he considers Reality in it self severed from its Attendants He passes with an unconceiveable swiftness Transubstantiation and Adoration of the Eucharist as if it were nothing He saith not a word of Masses without Communicants and regards the Sacrifice of the Mass and Retranchment of the Cup as Consequences which do rise necessarily from the Doctrine of Reality according to our own Confession So he makes his Fort of the Real Presence only and all this because he thinks to have found about it a great advantage in that we have done in regard to the Lutherans It is a Point wherein we shall give satisfaction anon to them that sincerely seek their Salvation and
that she pleases Methinks it is very unjust to wrangle with People and impose it for a Crime on them that they will not believe but God alone speaking in the Scriptures and by the Pen of his Prophets and Apostles With what Justice would they have us to regard as a small business that Enterprize to have taken away the Word of God in the Book thereof from the hands of the People Is not that a Capital Affair Where shall Knowledge be drawn if the Spring thereof be shut up Where shall Men learn to know God aright if they rob the People of that Book where God himself makes himself known When I see that they say with Confidence That it is not true that they have forbidden the Lecture of the Word of God that dismays me and drives my Patience to the utmost I know not how Men can contradict so a Publick Authority It is true that there are some in the Roman Church which condemn that Prohibition made to the People of Reading the Holy Scripture and I could wish no fairer Discourse thereon than what hath said the Author of the Dialogues between the two Parishioners of Saint Hilary du Mont. But what was said of those Persons They say they have borrowed the Weapons of Hereticks and have brightned them the more They accuse them to oppose the Sentiments of the Church because that the Church conducted by Gods Spirit permits not indifferently the Reading of Holy Scripture to all Persons without the Advice and Explication of Ecclesiastical Superiours for fear lest the Difficulty or Obscurity of Understanding in some places should produce Scruples and Errours in Mens Spirits It being certain that all Heresies which are born in its bosom have always their foundation and their defence in the Words of the Holy Scripture ill understood It is the Lord Bishop of Ambrun who speaks in his Ordinance against the Traduction of Mons. I think he knows what he saith for the least thing that may be granted to an Archbishop it is that he should know Religion And indeed doth not all the World know that the Rules which are at the Head of the Index Expurgatorius forbid the Lecture of the Holy Word of God excepting those who shall have permission from their Ordinary of the Curate or the Confessor It is not a Decree of the Council of Trent will they say No but it is the Spirit of the Council They are Theologians deputed by the Council of Trent that speak it It is Pope Pius the Fourth who presided in that Council and who possessed the Spirit thereof Sixtus the Fifth and Clement the Eighth Successours of Pius the Fourth ought to have had the Spirit of the Church Methinks it is they that say That by the Command and Use of the Holy Inquisition Romaine Universella the Power of permitting the reading or retaining the Bible in the Vulgar Tongue both of the Old and of the New Testament hath been taken away from Bishops Inquisitors or Superiours of the Regulars Let Men but read the last Writings which have been made thereabout upon the occasion of the Version of Mons the Ordinances of my Lords of Paris and of Ambrun the Writings of Father Annat and all the Apologies which have been made for the Defence of those Pieces and Men shall see whether it be true That the Reading of Scripture be permitted and ordained to all the World I must remit those that will be instructed in this Matter to the Book of Monsieur Mallet where Men shall see the Councils Popes Cordinals Bishops Faculties of Theology and the Theologues agreeing in this Article It is That the Reading of the Word of God is dangerous when it is permitted to all the World But is there need of Proofs for a thing that is seen Where is there a Reading of the Word of God in favour of the People Is it in the Church If they Read any part thereof it is in a strange Tongue it is no more for Instruction It is for Prayer as said a Franciscan in the Council of Trent Is it in Private Houses But in what Country doth the People know the Word of God of himself Certainly in Spain and in Italy the Bible is that of all Books that the People knows least of In France some honest Persons read it but their Number is very small It is not charged as a Duty upon any Person happily there are not of a Thousand One that hath cast his Eyes upon this Sacred Book Thence comes the profound Ignorance of most People even of those who distinguish themselves by their quality or by their Character We must not flatter our selves We shall never regard that Conduct as coming from the Spirit of God and we shall never re-enter into a Church which treats Holy Scripture with so much Injustice ARTICLE XV. Of the Church AS for the Authority of the Church it cannot be an Affair of little Importance seeing the Question is whether the Tribunal of it shall be lifted up above the Holy Scripture Monsieur de Condom cannot be ignorant that this Controversie of the Infallible Authority of the Church is an Article so Capital that thereon depends all the Re-union whereto they invite us Whilst that the Roman Church shall call it self Infallible she will shut the Door against all Reformation and as long as she shall refuse all Reformation she cannot hope that we shall return into her Bosom This Doctrine of Infallibility is the most dangerous that could ever enter into the Church because it opens the way to all sorts of Errours and Superstitions and takes away all liberty of Examining those things which Use or Authority have once established A Church that calls her self Infallible boldly establishes boldly what she wills and what may be found useful for its Interest And after that there is no more any Means to return We must also be permitted to say That this is an Affair of the highest Importance seeing the Foundation of the Faith of our People depends thereon They would not have us to establish it on the Holy Scripture which is the Stay and Pillar of Truth and they would have us to knowledge all that we must believe as from the Church without being able to tell us which is this Church and where are the Titles of its Infallibility These Gentlemen do thrust us very hardly upon the Authority of Scripture the diversity of its Senses upon the liberty whereof they accuse us as given to Women and to Artificers to interpret it after their manner and to make themselves a new Religion if it seems good to them But I know not how they mind not that with all their Maxims of Submission and blind Obedience for their Interpretations of the Church they must cast the Faith of their People into an incertitude greater a thousand times than that wherein they say that we are It is the Church say they to whose Interpretations we must cleave I will but let them