it incurable This excited in him a passionate Desire of obtaining an equal Reputation in the Church p. 22. If the Lecture of Romances inflamed his Ambition whilst he was yet a Soldier and breath'd the Air of the World we accuse the Lecture as well as the Effect of it But then too I cannot but wonder that such an Accusation should fall from your Mouth who are without doubt guilty of the same Folly for if his Passion carry'd him to Amadis yours tie you to Don Quixot otherwise you could never have follow'd so close your Parallel But that the Life of Christ and Actions of the Saints should work the same Effect I understand not unless he had your Faculty to draw Bad from Good and Vice from the greatest Vertues I will grant you willingly that the Zeal of St. Dominick and Humility of St. Francis first open'd his Eyes and gave him a Prospect of the Folly of all Worldly Pretensions as well as of the Happiness of Those who leave all this for his sake who made them Where is the Crime Where 's Ambition but in your Fancy who spy Faults in others where there are none and will not turn an Eye homeward where I am sure you would find a Subject more than ordinary of Confusion and Detestation Does not St. Austin in his Confessions recount the Conversion of Two Noble Romans by an accidental Reading of St. Anthony's Life And does he load these Converts with the Accusation of Ambition No no This Trade is new and takes its Date from the Blessed Epoche of Reformation 'T was then Christ's Counsels began to be laugh'd at when his very Commands were declar'd Noxious to Christian Liberty When Purity of Faith sounded the Trumpet of Rebellion and any thing pass'd for Lawful but Obedience to the Church When Coblers left their Stalls to mount the Pulpits and pass'd from the mending of Soals to the Direction of Consciences When Religion grew in Vogue like Almanacks and the Freshness of its Date was a sufficient Argument to recommend it I say 'T was Then Men establish'd a New Language when they pickt up a New Faith and first term'd Humility Pride Voluntary Poverty Nakedness c. the most palpable Sequels of an Enthusiastick Ambition Yet this Gentleman having once bolted this wild Proposition Ignatius in his Conversion was acted with Principles of Ambition is resolv'd to stand to it though his Conscience flies in his Face for it Nay and to demonstrate that his Face is dy'd as deep with Brass as his Pen is dipt in Gaul he tells us 'T is so undeniable that even the Writers of his Life cannot dissemble it This appears from the Account given by them of the Motions excited in his Imaginations by reading Romances and the Lives of Saints at his first Conversion which was before mention'd and may be further demonstrated from what Bouhours adds That in exercising all his Religious Austerities he had at first no other Aim than to imitate those Holy Penitents whose Lives he had read and to expiate his Sins p. 30. Sir The Meaning is That at the beginning of his Conversion he had no Thoughts of Instituting an Order for the saving his Neighbour's Soul but his Design was wholly confin'd to the Salvation of his own So that in short here 's your Argument St. Ignatius at first employ'd all his Endeavours by reading of the Saints Lives and asking God Pardon for his Sins to save his own Soul without extending his Care to the Salvation of his Neighbour's therefore his Conversion flow'd from the Principle of Ambition Is not This a most concluding Enthymema Does not the Author deserve to Commence Master of Arts for this cunning Illation Without doubt And I hope the Vniversity will be pleas'd to take it into its serious Consideration whither such an ingenious Philosopher is not worthy of some Promotion But because he wisely foresaw the last Clause And to expiate his Sins would break the Neck of the Argument he thought fit to prevent it by a pretty Slight of Hand usual to Persons of his Quality This last Clause says he was annex'd only to save the Credit of the Saint And let me tell you Sir 'T is only rejected by you to save the Credit of a Pamphleteer But the Gentleman has Two Strings to his Bow. If Bouhour's Recount of his Conversion will not brand St. Ignatius with Ambition the Publisher of his Life by Mutius Vitelleschius's Order shall Pray observe His First Resolutions were to exercise great Austerities and perform extraordinary Penance No harm yet not one Grain of Ambition is hitherto visible Not so much to expiate his Sins which then presented themselves to his View as because he imagin'd that in these Rigours the utmost Perfection of Christianity consisted having no higher Idea of it and desiring with Passion to acquire that Perfection Now let any Man turn this Quotation into all Shapes let him make what Combination he pleaseth he will never frame I am sure an Argument able to convince any Person of St. Ignatius's Ambition For the natural Sense which the Words import is That the Saint aim'd at the highest Perfection of Christianity and plac'd it in the Exercise of great Austerities which without doubt was a Mistake For the Perfection of Christianity consists in a most perfect Love of our Creator other exterior Austerities are only Means to arrive to it Say then the Saint was mistaken in his Idea of Perfection and I will put my Hand to your Accusation But on my Word Sir if you lay Ambition at his Door without better Proofs than you have already produc'd you must maintain your Charge alone Well then rather than fall short of his Intent he singles out another Circumstance very material viz. The Ambition of Founding a new Order in the Cburch had strangely possess'd his Imagination and was the grand Motive of all his Austerities p. 32. That from his Conversion he had conceiv'd such a Design Orlandin and Bouhours agree and I subscribe But that Ambition put this Resolution on foot and as Mr. Bays very well says And all that Where 's your Proof Why I Gad he will not tell us And yet we must swear such a blind Obedience to his Worship as to believe him without any further Inquiry For my part I do not intend to give him a Deference he denies to the Church nor to accuse the Saint by freeing him from Calumny St. Ignatius fram'd a Design to Institute a new Order Ergo Ambition was the Mover of this Great Work. I cannot infer such an Impious Consequence from so Pious an Antecedent nor any Body else without betraying at once a want of Wit and an abundance of Impiety I find that St. Basil and St. Austin had the same Design nay and put it in Execution and yet I dare not for my Life draw this Conclusion Ergo They were Ambitious Will you therefore know St. Ignatius's Motive It was a Zeal for his Redeemer's Honour and
for his Neighbour's Salvation which prompted him to the Enterprize He saw the greatest Part of the World sleep in Ignorance and Impiety and that as they liv'd without Knowledge of GOD so they dy'd without Fear of Hell and without Hope of Heaven He thought it then an Act both of Gratitude to GOD and of Charity to his Neighbour to be Founder of an Order of Men whose only Imployment should be first to procure their Own then the Salvation of their Neighbour's And so it is Besides he saw the Church of GOD attack'd in Europe That the Contagion of Brain-sick Gospellers had infected the greatest Part of the North That Reformation was the Fair Hellen which inchanted Christendom and That the Name of Liberty had plung'd whole Nations into Slavery Wherefore to Heal these Wounds already made and to prevent future Dammages he fram'd in his Head the Idea of the Society which he after Establish'd by the Pope's Authority And how GOD favour'd his Designs the Event has demonstrated beyond a Possibility of doubting The Fairest and most Populous Nations both of the East and West-Indies have receiv'd Christianity from his Descendants who flung up all Right to the Common Benefits of Life in their Native Countries expos'd their Lives to as many Dangers as there be Winds in the Compass to draw their Fellow-Creatures to the Knowledge of JESVS CHRIST and to perswade them to Live like Men that they might not Die like Beasts In these Apostolical Functions above Three Hundred lost their Lives and seal'd with their own Blood that Gospel they Preach'd to Others I challenge all the Ministers in England to shew the World so visible Marks of Piety in their Order or so manifest an Evidence of Divine Approbation No they have found so many commodious Livings made to their Hands by the Piety of their Catholick Ancestors within the Compass of the Four Seas that they rest contented with their Portion and think it a piece of the highest Folly to be so enamour'd with the Conversion of Heathenish Souls as to expose Christian Bodies to the least Inconvenience for their sakes Besides a pack of little Children is an expensive Burden and the Tears of a Loving Wife a strong Retentif So that a well-meaning Minister's Zeal is choak'd by Two Impossibilities that is He cannot go without a Transportation of his Family and in this Case his Purse is too little or without an absolute Renunciation of Wife and Children and as for That without any Ceremony he tells the Heathens Vxorem duxi ideo non possum venire Well but though we are advanc'd to the 32th Page I can find no End of the First Accusation My Author follows his Point close and will not part with his belov'd Topick Ambition which makes me think he is no such Enemy to it For People talk of That most which they love the best and often dispraise those very Things they most passionately dote on What then has he yet to say He Reveal'd one Day to Polancus several Favours GOD had bestow'd on him and pray'd earnestly That Eguia might not out-live him lest he should discover to the World what he knew of the Sanctity of St. Ignatius This is as I conceive your Meaning though not your Words To take a view as near as we can of the Stress of your Argument let us stand on the Right Side St. Ignatius reveal'd privately one Day to Polancus That GOD had bestow'd many Favours on him Item That he did not relate the Thousandth Part Item He pray'd earnestly that his Confessor might die before him Therefore he was Ambitious Here the Reader sees the whole Objection not through false Opticks but in it natural Bulk and Proportions But whether it skulks in the First or Second Instance for my Heart I dare not presume to determine Yet methinks the Gentleman might have drawn from the Second Instance a Conclusion of his Modesty because his Desire of out-living Eguia aim'd at this That many Gifts of GOD known to him as being his Confessor should lie forever bury'd in Oblivion But I have to deal with a Man who is equally offended with Silence and Speaking and makes the One as Criminal as the Other But St. Ignatius made Polancus Partaker of his Heavenly Visits and I find that Solomon wisper'd that Famous Apparition of GOD in the Ear of a Confident Yet the Scripture which is not over-shy in taking notice of this Great King's Faults never ranks that Action among his Crimes Again St. Paul recounts us his Rapture to the Third Heaven yet among all the Reflections of Commentators on that Passage I find not One which attributes the Rehearsal of so signal a Favour to Pride Nay King David protests He will always sing the Mercies of the LORD And why should You and I be so Satyrical as to question the Lawfulness of his Resolution If therefore such a Confidence be not the necessary Result of a Phanatick Pride find some other Argument to back your Assertion or confess you are mistaken in your Charge In fine Sir When you feel Ecstatical Transports of Divine Love when you work Miracles and bring me sufficient Witnesses to render them Credible although you proclaim your Gifts at Paul's Cross I will not lay down my good Opinion of your Humility but rather increase it The Second Quality requisit to make a compleat Enthusiast says our Author is Ignorance and Weakness of Vnderstanding This he fastens on St. Ignatius and very civilly gives all the Founders of Orders the same Complement The Great Founders of Monastick Orders are observ'd to have been Ignorant and Stupid to a Prodigy and Ignatius far from being ambitious to surpass them in Learning thought it Meritorions to be more Ignorant than them all May I be so bold Sir as to learn of you those Observers I fear they took their Observations ill For my part I have observ'd and Others with me That many Great Founders have always been and are still esteem'd the Learnedst Men in all respects that ever the World produc'd since the Rise of Christianity What think you Sir of St. Basil What of St. Austin Do these pass with you for Ignorant Persons and Stupid to a Prodigy If They do I shall not much rely on your Judgment Indeed some have not Commenc'd Doctors but I never read of any Stupid to a Prodigy If you have discover'd this so material a Point of Antiquity do us the Favour to impart it and the Gentleman of Amsterdam shall reward you with a Place in the Journal Des Scavans But has our Author let fall no peculiar Encomium on St. Ignatius Yes He Thought it Meritorious to be more Ignorant than them all Did any one but read your following Page he would scarce believe you to be now in earnest For there you tell us That He put himself to School and bestow'd many Years in learning Philosophy and the Latin Tongue That He betook himself to the Vniversity of Paris Now I
such a Kindness would make the Reformers Consciences flie too often in their Faces for running from that Church whose Doctrine and Piety GOD so highly attested Now the Gentleman comes out with a shrewd Objection against all Miracles Have at the Jesuites The Temptation of lying and feigning Miracles for the Reputation of an Order is in that Church for more perswasive than the Evidence of Reason This is a Compliment borrow'd from the worthy Dean of St. Pauls But I challenge Him and You to produce one Jesuite or Catholick Divine who ever taught it lawful to lie for the Honour of their Order or on any Account whatever 'T is a Doctrine peculiar to the Leaders of the Church of England A Catalogue of Lies in a Protestant Pamphlet is no less connatural than a List of wonderful Cures to a Mountebank Look back on the Blessed Times of Titus Oats peruse those Satyrs vented from the Pulpits as Divine Oracles and then tell me Whether 't was possible to crowd more Lies in a Romantick Fable than the furious Divines of the Zealous Church of England marshall'd in their Sermons against the Papists They blew the Fire to such an Extremity that it almost reach'd their own Vicariges and the Desire to rout out the Papists by a Just Judgment of GOD flung them within an Inch of their own Ruin. The Justice of the Nation deluded by Fabulous Narratives and Malicious Sermons in Process of Time found out its Error and made a Satisfaction no less Authentick than the Fault But the Pulpit-Oats's could not stoop so low as to acknowledge their Crime which makes me think they thought it none to Lie and Calumniate for the Honour of their Church and the utter Disparagement of Ours And Reader to speak my Mind freely I am of Opinion That the Consult of Divines in Dr. Tenison's Library hath pitch'd upon the Method of Slandering as the best Preservative against Popery for had it not been a Resolve of a whole Cabal 't is hard to determine how all the Protestant Scriblers should unanimously stumple on the same Expedient Out of the former Antecedent my Author draws this Consequence When therefore Ignatius was to be promoted to the Dignity of a Saint his Disciples set their Inventions on the Rack to raise a Fund of Miracles What ever the Disciples of Ignatius did I am sure you have set your Brains on the Rack and Conscience to boot to find some plausible Grounds for denying them But all will not do your Work. You tell us indeed They were Feign'd without ground This is a groundless Assertion and of no Force with me till you propose some good Authority besides your Own. I grant indeed that Miracles may be easily obtruded upon the World after a long distance of Time and that nothing less than a strict Examination can defeat the Hopes of Impostors But I also contend that all the Miracles contain'd in the Bull of his Canonization have undergone this Test to the utmost Rigour And therefore I am oblig'd in reason rather to conclude That you are deceiv'd who Deny Them than those Judicious Persons who Approv'd Them. But here the Gentleman offers a very material Proof to the falsity of the Miracles ascrib'd to St. Ignatius Ribadeneira who was his familiar Companion in the Year 1572 first publish'd his Life and made along Apology in it in defence of Ignatius maintaining That it was no way derogatory to his Sanctity that he had perform'd no Miracles Afterwards in the Year 1610. publishing a Second Edition of his Life he was so far enlightned in this Matter that he giveth us a long Catalogue of the Miracles of Ignatius but withal confesseth That the Reason why he had not inserted them in the First Edition was Because they were not sufficiently certain and uncontested Because I have not the First Edition by me I will acquiesce to what the Gentleman says But What then Is it impossible that Matters of Fact which for want of Examination were doubtful in the Year 1572. upon an exact Trial afterward should be found true in 1610 According to this Rule a great part of your Canonical Scripture might be plac'd among the Apocrypha For you must grant me that most if not every Book of the New Testament was call'd in question immediately after the Decease of the Apostles and some not receiv'd till many Centuries after Now might not a Jew take up your Argument and oppose it to the Scripture just as you oppose it to Miracles It cannot be imagin'd how the genuine Writings of the Apostles who dy'd in the First Century should be unknown or at least uncertain when the Memory of them were yet fresh and after above an Hundred Years when the greatest Part of the Witnesses must be suppos'd to have been dead should be advanc'd to undoubted Certainty Wind your self out of this Labyrinth and I shall easily dis-engage my self from That you imagin to have cast me in I cannot pass on without one small Reflection on our Author's way of Arguing First He tells us That Papists esteem it a Virtue to lie for the Credit of an Order Secondly He advances a Step forward and tells us He has just Reason to suspect that they have put that Principle in practice by forging the greatest Part of the Miracles ascrib'd to St. Ignatius after his Death This he proves because Ribadeneira omitted to recount for want of sufficient Testimony those Miracles in his First Edition which he sets down in his Second Item Because Masseius leaves out many other wonderful Actions for that they are not sufficiently certain Now for my part I should draw a quite contrary Conclusion from the Cautiousness of these Two Writers viz. That they did not intend for the Honour of their Founder to impose on the Readers nor to augment their own Sins by increasing St. Ignatius's Miracles For let me tell you People of so loose Principles as the Jesuits pass for in your Judgment would never have minc'd the matter especially when a thousand Miracles would have much enhanc'd the Glory of their Saint and not added one Grain to their Labour Dear Sir I should be glad did you make use of the Cautiousness of the Two fore-mention'd Writers and lay no Crimes on Papists and Jesuites but those which were sufficiently certain and uncontested Your Auditors would leave their Pews more calmly and feel more Charity in their Breasts at the End of the Sermon and less Animosity against their Fellow-Subjects But a Calm and Serene Season is bad Weather for the Ministery to Fish in They delight in Storms and Tempests meerly out of Hopes that both will fall heavy on the Dissenters These Holy Conjurers raise the Wind in the Pulpits which soon breaks out of the Church-Door and spreads its self through the whole Town in a Trice All raise this Devil of Discord the same way And by good Fortune no Text is so remote which does not patly suit with the Incantation A good